PUTRAJAYA: The role of nurses, from treating Covid-19 patients to inoculating the population against the virus in the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP), have paved the way for the country to shift to the endemic phase.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said he had always believed that the country's victory against the Covid-19 virus laid in the fingertips of nurses.
He said as the NIP coordinating minister back then, he knew that a large number of vaccination shots, up to 98 per cent of adults up to today were all administered by nurses.
"Nurses have treated patients, to dispensing the vaccine shot with the syringe into the arms of millions of Malaysians and that has enabled us to slowly shift to endemicity.
"Their contributions must not be forgotten as they had sacrificed their time, energy, safety and lives to be at the frontline while not knowing how dangerous the virus was during the early months of the pandemic.
"I have seen for myself nurses who had to leave their families for months and refrain from going home and even isolate themselves from their loved ones because we did not know the infection pattern.
"There were no Covid-19 vaccinations back then and while Malaysians were asked to stay home to keep safe, our nurses did not have that privilege. They were sent to the Intensive Care Units, Covid-19 wards and care wards nationwide.
"At times, there was not enough personal protective equipment and that exposed them to the virus and they were sent to deal with thousands of patients referred to hospitals and the quarantine and low risk treatment centres.
"All these serves as a lesson to us that we should be thankful and appreciative of healthcare frontliners, especially nurses and ensure we uphold the nursing profession," he said today.
Khairy said this during the International Nurses Day 2022 celebrations organised by Malaysian Nurses Association (MNA), here.
Also present were Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and MNA president Sharipah Asiah Syed Junid Aljunid.
Meanwhile, Khairy pledged to do his best to boost the number of nurses in the country in a bid to resolve the shortage in government hospitals.
Khairy said the lack of nurses was one of the many complaints he had received during his visit to hospitals.
"I had gone to the Tunku Azizah Hospital (HTA) with Dr Noor Hisham a few weeks ago. It is a very modern, sophisticated hospital for mothers and children in Kuala Lumpur.
"But it is unable to maximise its services as it does not have enough nurses.
"We have sped up the approval for nurses to be sent to HTA and will do so for other hospitals as well," he said.
Khairy added that he would try his best to look into the status of contract nurses; nursing degree holders who are still stuck in the U29 support group grade (gred kumpulan sokongan) as well as those who have undergone the promotion by appointment course (Kenaikan Pangkat Sejarah Lantikan) but have not been appointed to U29.