Referring to a study by a Canadian university, MNU said the additional hours would impact the quality of healthcare services.

MNU president Saaidah Athman said the study showed a 34% increase in risk of negligence if shifts continued for eight hours straight.

“The study also found that the chances of nurses who worked over 40 hours a week making mistakes increased by 50%,” she told FMT.

Yesterday, FMT reported that the implementation of a 45-hour work week for nurses, originally set to begin this Saturday, had been postponed by three months over outstanding concerns.

Senator RA Lingeswaran said health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad revealed the decision during a meeting with a group of MPs and senators to discuss pressing healthcare issues.

Dzulkefly said the views of the nurses and others had been taken into account.

Last week, Saaidah led a delegation to hand over a memorandum to the health minister and health director-general Dr Radzi Abu Hassan, warning that the repercussions of the move on the healthcare sector would be serious.

She said that adding three hours per week to the workload of already burdened nurses would see a huge exodus from government hospitals, which are facing a shortage as it is.