KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has taken action in four complaints of bullying among healthcare workers, as of Sept 30, said Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
The health minister, in a parliamentary written reply yesterday, said a total of 355 complaints of various natures had been recorded through the MyHelp system, and the four complaints were addressed in accordance with the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993.
He said six complaints were under investigation, while the remaining 345 complaints are related to service matters, promotion requests, transfers, management issues, communication problems and others.
"We emphasise that the ministry will never compromise with any form of bullying behaviour.
"Every complaint submitted will be detailed to determine its validity as an act of bullying for corrective or punitive action to be taken," he said.
Dr Dzulkefly said this in response to a question from Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Kuala Langat), who asked for statistics on reported bullying cases involving specialists, medical officers, trainee medical officers and paramedics, and the methods implemented by the ministry to address them.
He said, in line with the Healthcare Work Culture Improvement Task Force in 2022, the ministry had improved its mechanism for handling bullying cases with the MyHelp system, launched on Oct 1, 2022.
The system, he added, was a primary channel for officers to report bullying cases directly to the Health Ministry's integrity unit, without going through the respective department heads.
He said there were also various platforms to provide mental health support, including the mental health crisis hotline of Heal 15555 Hotline, services from the Psychology Officers and Public Service Counseling Partners (Akrab), and the MyMinda platform to conduct self-mental health screenings, among others.