As of Friday (27 March), the number of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia have surpassed the 2,000 mark, with a total of 2,031 cases and 24 deaths.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is now preparing for the next wave of patients and one of the steps taken is by calling retired healthcare staff to come back and serve the nation as we are currently short of frontliners.

According to the Malay Mail, the MoH has revealed that around 3,000 retired nurses are onboard with the idea and are ready to serve Malaysia and combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

More will be joining them soon.

Expertise needed

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that the ministry is currently filtering the expertise of each nurse in order to deploy them accordingly.

“Maybe some have a specialty in the [Intensive Care Unit], some the operation theatre; we will use their expertise to decide where to place them, either in a clinic or hospitals belonging to the Health Ministry,” he said.

The news of these nurses un-retiring touched Malaysians, and many praised them for risking their lives to help our current frontliners and the country:

Thank you to all retired medical frontliners who are willing to come back and serve Malaysia in the fight against COVID-19. We salute you!