KOTA SAMARAHAN: The increasingly critical capacity pressure at the state's main hospitals requires more serious attention, particularly regarding funding allocations and the healthcare workforce.

Sarawak Deputy Premier and Minister for Public Health, Housing, and Local Government, Datuk Amar Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian, stated that healthcare facilities in Sarawak are currently operating under challenging conditions, including a shortage of workforce compared to hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia.

According to him, main hospitals in Sarawak, particularly the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), are facing high patient loads, to the point where emergency units are frequently operating at over capacity.

“If there is a need to implement budget cuts, Sarawak should not be the first state to receive such reductions, given that the state has long been operating with a shortage of manpower and healthcare facility capacity,” he said.

He said this when met by the media after attending the 4th International Nursing Students Conference 2026 (4th INSC 2026) at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) on Saturday.

Furthermore, he noted that a 1,000-bed capacity hospital in Peninsular Malaysia has a higher number of staff compared to a hospital of the same capacity in Sarawak.

This, he added directly places immense pressure on healthcare workers who have to manage a high volume of patients amidst human resource constraints.

In this regard, he hopes the Federal Government will consider not impacting Sarawak's healthcare sector in their expenditure-saving measures, as the state still requires reinforcement in terms of facilities and manpower. -UKASnews

Prepared by: Lonney Jinab
Translator: Sarah Nicole Hii
Photo by: Ibanez Jeffery Guang