Taskforce chairman and UCSI vice-chancellor Siti Hamisah Tapsir Professor Datuk Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir says, there was no strong evidence of workplace bullying.

PUTRAJAYA: The Healthcare Work Culture Improvement Task Force (HWCITF) has concluded that there was no strong evidence of workplace bullying in relation to the death of a 25-year-old houseman in Penang earlier this year.

This was stressed by UCSI University vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir, who delivered the task force’s survey findings in her capacity of HWCITF chairman earlier today.

“The task force maintains this view as long as there is no additional information related to the houseman’s death from the police investigation,” she said in a press conference at the Health Ministry.

“Additionally, more than 60% of survey respondents stated that the work culture at the ministry is positive, particularly in the areas of patientcare, community and teamwork.”

Conducted over four months, the survey involved 110,411 medical officers and ministry staff - almost half of the ministry's workforce.

Prof Siti Hamisah added that while cases of burnout, bullying and unhealthy work cultures were detected, they occurred at different levels and they were not prevalent at all healthcare facilities.

“The bullying culture is not limited to housemen as it happens directly, or indirectly, across all levels of employees,” she continued.

“This stems from many factors like competence and skills gaps, as well as one’s readiness to performed assigned tasks.”

The task force also presented 10 proposal to the ministry to improve the healthcare system.

These include, but are not limited to, the establishment of a medical qualifying committee, houseman candidate screening, standardisation of housemanship training and improvements to the e-houseman system.

The task force also stressed the need for the ministry to optimise human resources and infrastructure facilities.