Page 10 - Nursing Education in Malaysia

NursiNg EducatioN iN Malaysia

service, placing nursing in the sub profesional group within the government structure.
Without planning for a better future, this scenario will remain in nursing till 2020, if not
forever.

While the Nurses Act 1950 remains in control of the nursing practice through its
Regulatory Procedures including Annual Practicing Certificate (APC), nursing activities
otherwise remain quite separate, in that:

1. The Ministry of Health has a Nursing Division headed by a Director of Nursing, who
reports directly to the Director General of Health. The division is responsible for
nursing service activities within the Ministry of Health. Being the largest nursing
organization within the healthcare system, its leadership is crucial to the development
of nursing service for the whole country. Indeed, the status of nursing in Malaysia
today is a reflection of the Ministry of Health nursing leadership.

2. Private hospitals as well as university hospitals adopt their own systems of governance
and the nursing service headed by Directors of Nursing function within these
systems.

3. Nursing education remains as separate entities within all institutions. In the Ministry
of Health, nursing education is within the purview of the Training Division, whereas
Ministry of Health, headed by a nonhealth personnel.

In the education sector, nursing education is placed in universities or private colleges
or university colleges, Ministry of Higher Education, as a faculty or as a part of a faculty
of medicine or health science.

For certain, nursing in Malaysia has many challenging needs. The analysis of these
needs would result in nursing having numerous opportunities for further development and
improvement.