KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry aims to have one psychiatrist for every 40,000 people, compared with the current ratio of one for every 69,000.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the target, aimed at meeting growing demand for mental health services, would be achieved by expanding specialist training.
He said the ministry employed about 400 of the country's roughly 700 registered psychiatrists, with the rest working in the private sector.
"This highlights the urgent need to expand our psychiatric workforce to match this escalating demand.
"Having sufficient psychiatrists to meet growing demand is undeniably a major challenge.
"Human resource constraints are a legacy issue I inherited, but we are doing everything we can," he told reporters today at the 2026 National Mental Health Month Celebration.
To ease the shortage, Dzulkefly said the ministry was also adopting 'task-shifting', whereby counsellors and family medicine specialists (FMS) take on part of the mental health caseload.
"This enables us to ease the workload and meet staffing needs effectively, rather than relying solely on psychiatrists," he said.
He said there were 10,000 registered counsellors nationwide, of whom 300 worked with the ministry.
He added that mental health services were offered at 1,116 government clinics, while psychiatric services were available at 68 ministry hospitals and four psychiatric institutions.
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