HEALTHCARE workers involved in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic will be given unrecorded leave with the approval of the respective heads of department so as to avoid symptoms of extreme stress or burnout, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said in a statement today that mental health screening will also be conducted on healthcare workers and front-liners from time to time to identify those who show signs of early onset of pressure, anxiety and depression.

These are among several initiatives by the Ministry of Health to tackle the issue of extreme stress, especially among healthcare workers and front-liners during the pandemic, he said.

“Psychological first-aid will be given to those with problems and they will be referred to a counsellor or psychiatrist, according to their needs,” he said.

He also said workers will be given mental health alert cards when they complete their duties for the purpose of self-monitoring their mental health.

Apart from adopting the concept of duty rotation, the ministry’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) team will be deployed at Covid-19 low-risk treatment and quarantine centres, such as the one at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, to provide counselling and psychosocial intervention to staff and patients, he said.

The ministry has urged all front-liners to always pay attention to their mental health, apart from their total commitment to providing services and treatment to all patients, especially during this pandemic period.

The MHPSS team will always collaborate with various agencies and ministries in tackling the issue of burnout among healthcare workers as well as take appropriate action to prevent the problem from recurring.

“Assistance as well as counselling will always be provided to any individual who needs them, especially the front-liners,” he said.

Studies carried out on 893 healthcare workers on the “prevalence and factors influencing burnout among front-liners in Malaysia during the Covid-19 pandemic” found that the prevalence of personal-related burnout was 53.8%.

The highest incidence of personal-related burnout was among pharmacists and healthcare workers at the district level, he said.

Noor Hisham said the prevalence of work-related burnout was 39.1%, with assistant environmental health officers and laboratory staff recording the highest percentage while the prevalence of patient-related burnout was 17.4% among paramedics and healthcare workers in private hospitals.

Factors that triggered burnout situations among healthcare workers include extremely heavy workload, the uncertain pandemic period, adapting to the various standard operating procedures, disruptions to career path and difficulty in balancing between family and career. – Bernama, June 27, 2021.