Nurses Want 45 Hour Work Week Scrapped After Wbb Cancelled

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The decision to cancel the proposed optional WBB shift system for healthcare workers but retain the 45-hour week for nurses was a ‘double standard’, said Malaysian Male Nurses (MMN) chairman Julihan Kamari.
PETALING JAYA: A nurses’ group has criticised the health ministry’s decision requiring them to continue working 45 hours a week. This comes after the Cabinet decided to cancel the proposed optional Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) shift system for healthcare workers.
Malaysian Male Nurses (MMN) chairman Julihan Kamari said the decision showed there was a “double standard” in practise, adding that it has caused dissatisfaction among nurses, Utusan Malaysia reported.
Julihan said if the WBB could be canceled for a more in-depth study, the same should be done for the 45-hour work week for nurses, which was implemented on Dec 1.
“Not a single nurse agreed with the increase in working hours from 42 to 45 hours a week.
“A study should have been carried out prior to the decision to extend nurses’ working hours. It is not fair to implement a decision without the affected parties agreeing to it.
“Although the increase is only three hours, previously, nurses were already working more than 42 hours. Now, they have to work even more in case of emergencies and so on,” he was quoted as saying.
Julihan said various nursing associations had submitted a study on this issue previously, but the ministry did not accept it.
In November, five nursing associations said a survey it conducted among nurses found that increasing nurses’ weekly working hours could undermine the effectiveness of healthcare service delivery and affect the quality of patient care.
The nursing associations requested that the directive be postponed due to a shortage of manpower and increased risks of work-related stress, fatigue, and burnout.
WBB, which sought to limit on-call hours for doctors from 33 to 18 hours, was widely criticised for cutting healthcare workers’ allowances by including extended shifts into the standard 45-hour work week.
While healthcare workers would work fewer hours, they stood to lose income as they would not be granted an allowance for working past 5pm on weekdays.
Graveyard shifts would also be treated as regular work hours and included as part of the 45-hour work week. - FMT

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