He said some left the service because their offers were not up to their expectations.

“For example, many assume that becoming a government nurse means being stationed in their hometowns, especially those from Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah, and Sarawak.

“We are also facing a shortage of nurses in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and Selangor,” he said to a supplementary question from Alias Razak (PN-Kuala Nerus) on whether nurses were leaving the service due to their workloads.

Lukanisman said the situation posed a challenge for the ministry as nurse placements are determined according to the needs of individual states.

He said a total of 1,754 nurses left the government service over the past five years, 27.98% of them due to personal problems.

Regarding the 14,771 vacancies at the ministry as of Dec 31, Lukanisman said these were not posts at current facilities.

“The vacancies are at new facilities, for example, a (health) project that is 85% complete,” he said.

In response to a question by Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Pulai) regarding the percentage of nursing positions that have been filled, Lukanisman said 88% of 79,814 posts had been filled.

As of Dec 31, a total of 70,229 nurses were serving with the ministry, 69,114 of them as permanent staff.

Lukanisman said 582 nurses quit their jobs last year.