There are only 247 welfare officers to handle welfare issues involving 25.45 million Malaysians, a minister revealed today.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil lamented that the acute shortage of manpower and resources have made it almost impossible for her ministry to attend to all the welfare needs of the poor.

"For example in Kuala Lumpur, the ratio of welfare officer to the population is 1 to 152,900. In Petaling Jaya district, an officer has to take care of 300,000 people," she told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

Her ministry, she disclosed, has a total of 2,750 officers but out of that, only 1,800 - including the 247 - are involved in welfare work. (The rest are supporting staff such as clerks and drivers.)

Quick response

Sharizat said the ministry has submitted an application to the Public Service Department for additional staff as part of its re-organisation exercise.

"We do not have enough officers, we do not even have enough vans, so it is hard to ask the officers to go down to check on all the poor," she said.

The minister said that her officers have to interact with local community leaders to obtain first hand information as there were not enough resources to move around and handle all cases.

"However, we always respond quickly to cases highlighted in the media, but this is insufficient to tackle the problem. We can't carry on operating in this manner," she added.

The minister said that although Malaysia is not a welfare state, the welfare of the people will be taken care of.

Last year, the ministry handled 137,689 cases and spent RM159 million.