“The allocation will definitely be very helpful,” said MMA president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy.
“I think the government has to look into employing doctors and putting them on permanent jobs so there are no manpower problems, especially since government hospitals are overwhelmed now.”
Permai, the fifth economic stimulus package to date, was unveiled yesterday. It is worth RM15 billion.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said last week that the health ministry had the capacity to commission additional intensive care units if needed, but he added that the shortage of manpower would make it difficult to maintain them.
When announcing a movement control order in several states and the federal territories last week, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the public healthcare system was at breaking point with more than 2,000 new Covid-19 cases reported every day.
Speaking to FMT, former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said he hoped the resources given to the health ministry would allow it to reduce the number of new cases and flatten the curve.
He also said he was glad the government had decided to recruit an additional 3,500 healthcare workers by the end of the month although it fell short of his recommendation last week for the government to establish a contact tracing network comprising an additional 10,000 special workers.
“The most important thing now is to bring down the number of new cases,” he said yesterday.
Azrul Mohd Khalib, chief executive of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, said the additional funding should be used to strengthen the country’s healthcare infrastructure.
“Strengthen and improve it and make sure they get the resources and manpower they need,” he said.
In announcing the Permai package yesterday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the 3,500 healthcare workers to be recruited would include assistant medical officers, paramedics, laboratory technicians and nurses.
He also said some of the money would be used to procure supplies for frontliners.
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