PUTRAJAYA: Over 1,000 retired healthcare workers have been deployed at government hospitals to assist frontliners in the fight against Covid-19, with more expected to join them soon.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a total of 3,500 nurses were currently undergoing the necessary course and that some of them had already been deployed.
Most were sent especially to the Sungai Buloh Hospital which is designated for Covid-19 treatment.
"We can't afford to wait for the whole batch to complete the course before deploying," he told reporters here, adding specialists and staff in various health disciplines would also be roped in.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry viewed beefing up the frontlines as an urgent issue to allow exhausted public healthcare workers some time off.