PUTRAJAYA: Former science, technology and innovation ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir will lead the healthcare work and culture improvement task force, says the Health Ministry.

       The nine-member independent task force was officially set up on Friday (May 13).

       Other members of the task force are former CIMB group chief people officer Datuk Hamidah Naziadin, pediatric specialist Prof Dr Zabidi AM Hussin and lawyer Mohamed Ridza Mohamed Abdulla.

       The task force also includes Universiti Malaya psychiatric consultant Assoc Prof Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin, IMU Healthcare chief executive officer Dr Chong Su-Lin, and Manvir Victor, an activist and expert in communications and media, patient safety, brand development, and crisis and reputation management.

       Sivaramakrishnan Balasubramaniam, an expert in evaluating, developing and chief executive officers, will represent the Health Ministry on the task force.

       Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said aside from the incident involving the death of a houseman in Penang Hospital, there were reports and complaints on alleged bullying and mental pressure faced by not only housemen, but also healthcare service staff during their course of duty.

       "Taking into account the importance of the public healthcare service to the nation, the scope and terms of reference of the task force will encompass aspects of work culture and human resource management.

       "This is to ensure the delivery of service is of quality and professional," he said.

       The task force has been assigned to, among others, come up with analysis and evaluation on work culture and human resource management, encompassing time and workload, channel for complaints and performance evaluations.

       It will also analyse information from and the results of the investigation into the death of the Penang Hospital houseman.

       Khairy said the task force will also come up with an evaluation report and proposal to improve work culture and human resource management.

       "The report and evaluation is to be presented to the Health Minister in two months from the date of its establishment," he said.