PUTRAJAYA, May 10 — The Health Ministry (MoH) launched the second edition of the Guidelines for Preventing and Managing Violence Against MoH Staff in Health Facilities today.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan said the document is an improvement to the existing guidelines published on April 28, 2017, in terms of definition, scope, handling of violence cases and notification processes.
He said that violence had been identified as one of the main challenges in the workplace, and any form of violence, whether physical, verbal, sexual or written, can disrupt their productivity.
“Through the latest guidelines, it is hoped that violence against MoH staff can be dealt with more effectively and ensure the staff’s safety and well-being at their workplace are maintained,” he said in a statement.
According to Dr Muhammad Radzi, statistics showed that there had been an increase in violence cases against MoH staff from 167 cases reported after the launch of the first edition of the guidelines in 2017.
He said 442 cases were reported in 2018, 494 cases in 2019, 321 cases in 2020 and 260 cases in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Violence against MoH staff has a negative impact on their safety and psychological and physical health, thus affecting their work performance.
“This can affect the quality of medical care and cause losses in the health sector’s expenditure,” he said. — Bernama
