Staff shortage to be addressed

 STAFF shortage in the health sector will be addressed.

Health Minister Michael Malabag told Parliament last week that a study by the World Bank on health human resources had prompted the department to address the matter effectively. 

The report show a disappointing worker-patient ratio of 8,844 frontline health workers serving seven million people with 54% aging workers retiring in the next five to 10 years.   

The plan is to recruit workers from within and abroad for long-term and immediate short-term employment, fund church-run and government training institutions, provide scholarships for in­-

terns and develop a workforce plan. 

“Health workforce planning is our second priority after the free primary health care and subsidised specialist health care,” he said. 

“Our training institutions are not producing enough health workers to adequately serve the ever growing population.”