10/06/2026

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 10, 2026

5 ‘Address staff crisis first before building more hospitals’

Two trawlers detained, RM7,500 worth of fish seized KUALA NERUS: Two trawlers, one believed to have been operated by Vietnamese fishermen, were detained by the Fisheries Department (DOF) during an Op Naga enforcement operation in waters off Pulau Redang yesterday. Fisheries director-general Datuk Adnan Hussain said the overnight operation, conducted between 11pm on Monday and 6am yesterday, uncovered various breaches of licence conditions and offences under the Fisheries Act 1985. He said the first vessel was detected carrying out trawling activities about eight nautical miles off Pulau Redang, within the 12-nautical-mile fishing prohibition zone around the island. “Also detained was a Zone C trawler suspected of operating without a valid licence and manned by a skipper and four Vietnamese crew members,” he said in a statement here yesterday. Adnan said inspections uncovered several suspicious elements, including discrepancies between the vessel’s licensed identification photograph and its actual physical appearance. He said the vessel was fitted with five additional oil tanks, with only one containing fuel and the remaining four empty, believed to be part of an evasive operational tactic. Adnan said DOF enforcement officers also seized about 1,500kg of various types of fish, estimated to be worth RM7,500. He added that employing foreign skippers and crew members without permission, operating vessels without a valid licence and violating the 12-nautical-mile fishing restricted area were serious offences under the law. – Bernama KUALA LUMPUR: Police are tracking down five men suspected of stealing Telekom Malaysia (TM) cables in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) on Monday, after footage of the incident, which involved several luxury vehicles, was widely shared on social media. Brickfields police chief ACP Hoo Chang Hook said police became aware of the incident through the footage. Preliminary investigations found that the incident occurred at about 4.30am along Jalan Dato Sulaiman, TTDI. “A witness, who was carrying out topographical work in the area, noticed five men removing cables from a utility manhole using a BMW car. “The witness confronted the group, prompting all the suspects to flee the scene in three BMW cars – two white and one black,” he said in a statement yesterday. Telekom Malaysia representatives have also assisted investigators and estimated the losses resulting from the theft at approximately RM20,000. “An investigation paper has been opened, and the case is being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft and Section 235 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” he said. – Bernama Police seek five men over TM cable theft

Ű BY KIRTINEE RAMESH newsdesk@thesundaily.com

o Nation faces severe shortage of specialists and nurses while only 529 of 5,000 positions offered to medical grads being accepted, says MMA president

“We have indeed received a request (letter) from the company to discuss the matter. As of now, we have not met, and we do not know what they intend to discuss,“ he said. Norway had previously revoked the export licence for Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) and related launcher systems to Malaysia, citing national security concerns. According to the official website of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS, the procurement contract for the NSM was inked between the RMN and the company in April 2018. The contract, valued at 124 million euros (RM571.9 million), was intended to equip the navy’s six new Littoral Combat Ships. – Bernama private hospitals with more than 1,400 beds and over 450 registered private clinics. Thirunavukarasu said the Health Ministry should expand programmes enabling public patients to receive treatment at private facilities, noting that nearly 100 private hospitals had already been shortlisted to provide services including cardiology, nephrology and radiology imaging. “The capacity already exists. We should be using it,” he said. The MMA also pressed for stronger investment in healthcare digitalisation, arguing that patients were far more frustrated by long waiting times, misplaced records and repeated tests than by the absence of new buildings. Thirunavukarasu highlighted the Health Ministry’s plans to fully digitalise primary healthcare by 2027 and establish a single national health record accessible across both public and private facilities. This system would allow patients on months-long public hospital waiting lists to be referred swiftly to private providers without losing continuity of care, he said. “No new building. No new land. Just a faster solution for the patient,“ he said. He further urged policymakers to address the root causes of the workforce shortage through sustained healthcare funding, improved recruitment and retention policies and the creation of an independent Health Service Commission – a body that would manage healthcare recruitment, postings and career progression outside the constraints of the broader civil service structure. “Doctors are not leaving because others are taking them. They are leaving because the system pushes them out,” he said. Thirunavukarasu stressed that resolving the crisis required coordinated action from the Finance Ministry, Public Service Department and Higher Education Ministry, not just the Health Ministry. “By all means build the hospital. But ensure the workforce is planned before the first brick is laid,” he said.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia risks building hospitals it cannot staff unless the government urgently addresses a deepening healthcare workforce crisis, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has warned, even as it welcomed plans for a new 500-bed public hospital in the city. Cautioning that infrastructure investment alone will not resolve the country’s healthcare woes, MMA president Datuk Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo said the nation faces a shortage of nearly 11,000 specialists, nursing vacancies of about 18% – or some 14,700 unfilled positions out of 84,000 – and a stark collapse in junior doctor uptake, with only 529 of the 5,000 positions recently offered to medical

“That was not a failure of construction. It was a failure of workforce planning,“ he said. “Our hospitals are not short of demand. They are short of staff.” While acknowledging that the Petaling district’s population of more than 2.3 million, including over 800,000 in Petaling Jaya, warrants additional healthcare capacity, the MMA argued that existing resources, particularly in the private sector, remain underutilised. Petaling Jaya alone has 12

graduates being accepted. “A hospital is not its walls. It is the doctors, nurses and specialists inside it, and Malaysia has a problem that we cannot build our way out of,” he said, following the Selangor government’s decision to expedite land allocation for the proposed facility. Thirunavukarasu pointed to Hospital Pasir Gudang as a cautionary tale, a completed facility that could not be fully operationalised due to insufficient doctors and nurses.

Thirunavukarasu said policymakers need to address staff shortage woes through sustained healthcare funding, improved recruitment and retention policies and the creation of an independent Health Service Commission. – AMIRUL SYAFIQ/THESUN

3 Turkiye-built navy ships to be delivered by 2027 KUALA LUMPUR: All three Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Littoral Mission Ship Batch 2 (LMSB2) are expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2027. conference after the 2026 Ministry of Defence and Malaysian Armed Forces Education Excellence Award presentation ceremony at Wisma Perwira ATM here yesterday. Mohamed Khaled said this follows the successful launch of the first vessel Tunku Laksamana Abdul Jalil on May 24.

He added that the LMSB2 programme is a government-to government (G-to-G) cooperation project between Malaysia and Turkiye aimed at bolstering the nation’s maritime sovereignty. Meanwhile, commenting on the RM1 billion claim against a Norwegian defence firm, Mohamed Khaled said the ministry has received a request from the company to discuss the matter. He stressed the ministry will proceed with the claim according to established procedures.

Mohamed Khaled added that the second vessel in the Batch 2 series was successfully launched at the Istanbul Shipyard in Turkiye on Sunday. “The vessel has been named Raja Laut , after the late 19th-century Selangor nobleman and visionary administrator. The naming and launching ceremony was graced by the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah and Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin.“

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the construction of the vessels in Turkiye is progressing smoothly and remains on schedule as set when the contract was signed in 2024. “We expect these ships to be delivered to our navy by late 2027. According to the estimated timeline, the first vessel will be commissioned in October, followed by the second in November, and the third in December. Everything is progressing well,“ he said at a press