According to a report by Harian Metro, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni said that as of last October, only 101 foreign nurses had passed the screening set by KKM.
“The number mentioned is not a big amount because we set strict conditions for the recruitment.”
“The Ministry of Health does not want to accept a supply of nurses of poor quality. So far, the nurses in question are from India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia,” he said.
But why take foreign nurses?
Though, many Malaysians are wondering why KKM is even recruiting foreign nurses when they can easily utilise local nurses and provide them with proper pay.
“Malaysians must be paid proper wages (and given) employee benefits. For outsiders, it’s cheap pay, constant struggles and without work benefits. Who made this decision? Singapore is preparing transportation from Johor Bahru to Singapore for our nurses.”
“Take locals lah. There’s so many locals who want to work but they still want to take foreigners.”
“DOES MALAYSIA NOT HAVE ENOUGH SPECIALISTS AT KKM? WHY DO THEY WANT TO HIRE MORE OUTSIDERS? I SWEAR, THIS GOVERNMENT IS FAILING.”
“They’re willing to take foreigners rather than raise wages. Funny.”
What do you think? Should Malaysia prioritise retaining our local nurses and let go of the idea to bring in foreign nurses?
Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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