Bintulu MP Tiong from Parliament BINTULU-- The Government has approved the construction of 16 Health Ministry training institutes under the Eighth Malaysia Plan to replace the old training institutes in an effort to produce more trained nurses in the country, Member of Parliament for Bintulu, Dato' Seri Tiong King Sing said today. He said when the new training institutes in Sungai Buloh, Sungai Petani, Alor Setar, Kelang, Kluang, Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan are completed by 2006, they would be able to accommodate 6,840 trainees compared to 5,780 trainees at present time. "The Government has also acquired a fully-equipped training complex in Port Dickson, which is able to accommodate more than 1,000 trainee nurses. "The Government will also double its efforts to upgrade and restore old government buildings to be turned into nursing training institutes in an effort to accommodate the requirement for more trainee nurses," he said in reference to the reply by Health Minister Dato' Chua Jui Meng at the recent Parliamentary session. Tiong has asked Health Minister to reveal the steps taken by the Ministry to increase the number of Malaysian trained nurses in government hospitals as the Government is currently depending on some 6,000 foreign nurses to fill the acute shortage in this field. He said the Ministry had also taken the initiatives by sending trainee nurses to undergo trainings at 10 private nursing training institutes since last year. "The cooperation between the Ministry and these private nursing institutes will be continued with the dispatching of 500 trainees in nursing fields this year," he said. Apart from this, Tiong said the Ministry would also purchase and rent suitable apartments and private buildings to be turned into hostels for additional comfort in an effort to accommodate the increasing number of trainees annually. He said the Ministry assured that with the steps taken to increase the number of nurses in the country, it had no intention to take in foreign nurses any longer...ends