State to request for funds for a mechanism to sync health graduates with market demand
KUCHING: Sarawak will request for a special allocation from the federal government to set up a mechanism to sync the number of health graduates in the state with job availability.
Assistant Minister of Public Health, Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, said the state was keen to create a database of job opportunities in the private and public health sectors and keep data of graduates for employment-matching purposes.
Pointing out that a high number of trained nurses here were currently working in other fields, Dr Jerip believed it was important for the government to coordinate with private institutions of higher learning to produce graduates accordingly to market demand.
“To learn that healthcare graduates ended up working in coffeeshops or as supermarket cashiers, etc is depressing, especially for native parents who have high hopes for their children,” he told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.
Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA) president Dr Dusit Jaul claimed on Sunday that thousands of trained nurses with diploma and degree qualifications in the state were without proper jobs for years after graduation.
Some of the graduates who spoke to thesundaypost said they had applied for posts at private and government hospitals through the Public Services Commission (PSC) on numerous occasions, but to no avail.
Dr Jerip said unemployed graduates, especially those who did not practise in their field for a long period of time, definitely need retraining of at least six months.
“The special fund that we will propose to the federal government will be used for the retraining process, also, and to create a body (or consortium) to coordinate these graduates with openings in the healthcare sector.”
He said the proposed mechanism would include a website for graduates to register themselves as well as for healthcare institutes to announce job openings. He further suggested that registered individuals be placed in private or public hospitals, other healthcare institutes, nursing homes, or become healthcare provider for private homes or fill temporary posts for civil servants on maternity leave.
In the long run, he believed this initiative would enable the state to export its healthcare providers to foreign countries. He cited Singapore, being an aging society, as among the countries that would need nursing care.
“At the moment, there is not enough collaboration between the private and public sectors to provide the adequate number of people required. When we over train, we can’t offer enough posts for these graduates.
“In a way, we have built up our human capital, but, unfortunately, upon completion of training, most of these graduates are left in the wilderness. The government has to step in to help these graduates. After all, the government sponsored their education through PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corporation).
“If we don’t take care of them, at the end of the day, we are losing productive human capital.”