Nurses upset over work hour increase
KUALA LUMPR: The Malayan Nurses Union (MNU) is up in arms over the government's decision to increase the weekly working hours of nurses in the public sector from 42 hours to 45 from Aug 1.
Its president Saaidah Athman said nurses have made many sacrifices in serving the well-being of the public and they were unhappy over the additional workload piled on them.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
In a letter dated May 28 to the Health Ministry secretary-general, the Public Services Department (JPA) paused the implementation of the new working arrangement scheduled to begin on June 1.
JPA also said the postponement was the last one and the new working arrangement will be implemented soon.
Another postponement was also previously granted from March 1 to May 31 upon the request from the Health Ministry.
While MNU welcomed the latest postponement, Saaidah is hoping for the ministry to maintain the current 42-hour work week instead of the 45-hour.
She said nurses in countries like Singapore and the Philippines work 40 hours a week as recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
This was because regular work hours were tiring enough for nurses and that additional hours would cause exhaustion.
'Where is the justice and welfare for nurses who are the pulse, heart and backbone of the ministry.
'The current working structure in the health system must be improved.
'In other countries including Singapore, the nurses are only working in wards handling recovery work but in Malaysia, we do many tasks from taking the patients to x-rays, to the operation theatre, indenting, collecting data, being involved in audit as well as hospital activities,' she told The Star yesterday.
She added that nurses would be disappointed if the 45-hour week was implemented.
Saaidah said nurses were at the frontline of medical care during the Covid-19 pandemic and served the nation to the extent of leaving their families due to responsibilities of the job.
'Imagine if the work hours were extended but there was no review on the burden of the job and the improvements,' Saaidah said.
Nurses have previously opposed the new working hours, citing the lack of work-life balance and added workload.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
10 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Singapore MOH: No, Covid-19 isn't a bacterium — and no, we're not jailing the unvaccinated
SINGAPORE, June 3 — Singapore's Health Ministry (MOH) has urged the public not to spread unsubstantiated information that may cause public alarm, following the circulation of misinformation on alleged Covid-19 autopsy findings and new vaccination laws on social media platforms. MOH advised the public to refer to its official website at for accurate and up-to-date information. The ministry noted that a message which originally circulated in 2021 has resurfaced. The message falsely claims that Singapore is the first country in the world to perform an autopsy on a Covid-19 body, and that it found Covid-19 does not exist as a virus but as a bacterium. 'This is false. As clarified by the Ministry then, Singapore has not performed such an autopsy, and it is also not true that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium,' MOH said in a statement on Tuesday. Meanwhile, MOH also denied social media posts alleging that Singapore has enacted laws mandating vaccination and jailing unvaccinated individuals following Bill Gates' recent visit to the country. 'This is false. Singapore has not passed any laws on vaccinations after Mr Gates' recent visit to Singapore,' the ministry stated. — Bernama
The Star
12 hours ago
- The Star
Health Ministry debunks fake news on Singapore doing first Covid-19 autopsy and jailing those unvaccinated
MOH urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. - ST SINGAPORE: Two pieces of fake news made about Covid-19 in Singapore have been debunked by the Ministry of Health (MOH), as it urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. On Tuesday (June 3), the ministry said it is aware of 'two pieces of misinformation' currently being spread on social media. The first has to do with a message claiming that Singapore was the first country to conduct an autopsy on a person who had tested positive for Covid-19, which it said was found to exist as a bacterium and not a virus. The claim was first circulated in 2021, and re-emerged recently. 'This is false. As clarified by the ministry then, Singapore has not performed such an autopsy, and it is also not true that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium,' said MOH. It also said social media posts alleging that Singapore had enacted laws to mandate vaccines and jail those unvaccinated after Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited the Republic in early May are not true. The Straits Times found that such claims had been published in articles on two websites – Slay News and The People's Voice – which tout themselves as news sites. Slay News describes itself as 'unapologetically pro-America and pro-free speech', while The People's Voice says it covers 'topics the mainstream media won't touch'. A search online shows that Slay News' website is registered in North Carolina, and a check of its address in Google Maps shows what looks to be a small farmhouse on a highway stretch. The People's Voice, meanwhile, has its website registered in Arizona, although it has no listed company address. Most of the articles published on both sites centre around right-wing ideology, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine rhetoric, with fact-checking website Snopes labelling The People's Voice as a rebrand of disinformation-spreading site NewsPunch. For accurate and up-to-date information, members of the public should visit the MOH website at instead. - The Straits Times/ANN
Free Malaysia Today
13 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Muslim pilgrims gather in Mecca under scorching desert sun
Saudi Arabia earns billions of dollars each year from the haj. (AP pic) MECCA : More than a million Muslim pilgrims poured into the holy city of Mecca ahead of the annual haj, with authorities vowing to hold a safer pilgrimage amid searing desert heat and a massive crackdown on illegal visitors. Officials have beefed up heat mitigation measures hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's haj, which saw 1,301 pilgrims die as temperatures reached 51.8°C. Temperatures were forecast to exceed 40°C this week as one of the world's largest annual religious gatherings starts on Wednesday. The haj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means. As of Friday, more than 1.3 million pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia for the multi-day pilgrimage, according to officials. This year, authorities have mobilised more than 40 government agencies and 250,000 officials, doubling their efforts against heat-related illness following the lethal heatwave of 2024. Shaded areas have been expanded by 50,000sq m, thousands more medics will be on standby, and more than 400 cooling units will be deployed, Saudi Arabia's haj minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah told AFP last week. Today, with temperatures topping 40°C, the health ministry said 44 cases of heatstroke had already been treated. The latest artificial intelligence technology will also help monitor the flood of data and footage, including video from a new fleet of drones, from across Mecca to better manage the mammoth crowds. Despite the punishing heat, pilgrims were overjoyed as they arrived in Mecca. 'This is really a blessing from Allah,' Abdul Majid Ati, a Filipino lawyer and Sharia counsellor, told AFP near the Grand Mosque. 'We feel so peaceful and safe in this place.' Abdulhamid, from Nigeria, said he was 'very happy' to be performing his second pilgrimage in a row at just 27 years old. But the young man said he never walks out without his sunglasses, describing the temperatures in Mecca as 'very, very, very hot'. The rites in the holy city and its surroundings, which follow a lunar calendar, fall again this year during the hot month of June. Last year, most of the deaths were among unregistered pilgrims who lacked access to air-conditioned tents and buses. 'They were caught by surprise because the intensity of the heat was so high that their adaptation measures failed,' said Fahad Saeed of Climate Analytics, a think tank based in Germany. In the run-up to this year's haj, Saudi authorities launched a widespread crackdown on unregistered worshippers, using frequent raids, drone surveillance and a barrage of text alerts. Haj permits are allocated to countries on a quota system and distributed to individuals by lottery. But even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs prompt many to attempt the haj without a permit – though they risk arrest and deportation if caught. Along with hefty fines, those found illegally entering Mecca during the haj face a potential 10-year ban from Saudi Arabia. Large crowds at the haj have proved hazardous in the past, most recently in 2015 when a stampede during the 'stoning the devil' ritual in Mina, near Mecca, killed up to 2,300 people in the deadliest haj disaster. Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam's holiest sanctuaries in Mecca and Medina, earns billions of dollars each year from the haj and pilgrimages known as umrah, undertaken at other times of the year. The pilgrimages are also a source of prestige for the Saudi monarch, who is known as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina. For Mariama, a 52-year-old pilgrim from Senegal, the journey to Mecca has fulfilled a life-long dream. 'I was dreaming about it, thinking about it every time to come here to do the haj,' she said.
