Dzulkefly said he accepts criticism as a challenge – and not an attack – because he viewed his ministerial post as a duty entrusted by the public.
“Between ‘shape up or ship out’, I choose to ‘shape up’, not with slogans but with work.
“I don’t promise that everything can be solved, but I do promise that we will listen, we will act, and we won’t keep quiet,” he said.
He was responding to an editorial published in Utusan Malaysia which raised concerns about the lack of nurses, the on-call allowance, and the ePlacement system.
Dzulkefly denied that there is a shortage of 43,243 nurses in the public healthcare sector, stating that there is a total of 120,667 nurses nationwide.
He said the health ministry is gradually recruiting nursing graduates from public and private colleges through the public services commission (SPA) and has doubled the capacity of the ministry’s health training institute.
“The moratorium on private nursing programmes has also been lifted, while entry requirements for diploma (programmes) have been lowered from five to three SPM credits. Programmes are open to students holding STPM, STAM, SVM, UEC and other qualifications,” he said.
In response to a question about when guidelines for managing bullying in the workplace for health ministry staff will be released, Dzulkefly said they would be made public in October in conjunction with World Mental Health Month.
He also defended the decision to cancel the placements for doctors in February because of technical issues in the ePlacement system.
He said the system has been improved and 2,248 medical officers have since been offered permanent appointments through the system.
The ministry has also conducted a review of the medical staff shortage at healthcare facilities that do not implement the flexible working hours scheme and found that on-call allowance cannot be implemented at this time.
“I have instructed the health director-general to continue seeking solutions to realise the provision of on-call allowance that would benefit eligible healthcare workers,” he said.
Dzulkefly also said his ministry has completed amendments to the Medicine Act 1971 and the Medicine Regulations 2025, and enforced the long-awaited amendments recognising parallel pathway specialists.
He said the ministry has approved additional allocations for hospitals, new and dilapidated clinics, and strengthened permanent appointments of doctors, nurses and health officials.