PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia needs 44,804 assistant medical officers by 2025, taking into account the country's expected population of 36 million that year, said Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
Currently, he said there are 23,329 assistant medical officers in the country, with a ratio of 1:1,400 population.
"The shortage of assistant medical officers causes an increase in workload, forcing them to work overtime, which can indirectly affect the quality of health service delivery," he said during the opening of Medical Assistant Day 2023 at the Health Ministry here today.
Lukanisman further said the number of medical assistants with degree qualifications was still small, less than 10 percent.
The ministry aims to have 75 per cent of them with a degree by 2030, he noted.
He added that several engagement sessions had been held with various public and private universities to provide degree study programmes for medical assistants.
Currently, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, and Malaysia Open University have special degree-level programmes for medical assistants.
Meanwhile, Lukanisman said Malaysia will host the 'The Global Association of Clinical Officers and Physician Associates' conference in Putrajaya in June. -- BERNAMA