KOTA SAMARAHAN: A grand celebration marked the 2023 ILKKM Convocation Ceremony for the Sarawak Zone at DeTAR Putra, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), where 1,195 graduates from the Malaysian Health Ministry Training Institute (ILKKM) received their scrolls.
Officiated by Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni, the ceremony recognized graduates from various programmes, including two Certificate programmes, 10 Diploma programmes, one Diploma Transition programme, 14 Post-Basic Certificate programmes, and 15 Advanced Diploma programmes.
Addressing the gathering, Deputy Minister Lukanisman highlighted the evolving challenges in the country’s healthcare sector that require health workers to always be at the ready.
“Among them is the double disease burden, which is the emergence of old and new diseases that burden the country’s health delivery system.
“Therefore, graduates must always update and transform themselves by taking advantage of all the latest knowledge and skills that will allow them to explore further and contribute to improving the quality of medicine and health in this country,” he said in his speech during the ceremony.
Furthermore, he stressed the importance of ethical conduct, a healthy lifestyle, professionalism, teamwork, and a compassionate approach in delivering healthcare services to the community.
“Indeed, the effort to raise the level of professionalism to the highest level is no longer an option, but rather a must to face future challenges, so that with the presence of all of you in this service, we can continue to strengthen the service to the people,” he said.
Later when met at the sidelines, Lukanisman also discussed the increasing need for healthcare professionals, particularly in specialised fields like gerontology, given the ageing population in Sarawak and the nation.
“This is considering that our country and Sarawak are now approaching an ageing population. Thus, specialists in gerontology are much needed, which is not limited to doctors but also nurses,” he said.
Besides gerontology, he acknowledged the demand for more healthcare workers in primary health and emergency care.
“Currently, a total of 310 intensive care workers have been produced, while a total of 48 workers for gerontology and 51 for primary health are currently in training. So, we are still producing post-basic nurses at our training centre,” he said.
