KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak recorded a total of 1,388 ‘Return to Work’ (RTW) cases from January 2020 to March 2022.
Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed said, of the total, 427 cases were referred to the SOCSO rehabilitation panel.
“However, only 20 cases were referred to the rehabilitation centre in Melaka and the small number was due to the long distance,” he added.
He disclosed this in his speech at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and SOCSO at Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (DeTAR Putra), UNIMAS today.
Azman said all SOCSO offices in Sarawak would be able to refer RTW participants who require rehabilitation treatment to UNIMAS once rehabilitation programmes and facilities are available there.
“In addition to providing lower service operating costs, SOCSO’s rehabilitation programmes and facilities can also continue to be expanded to benefit the local community, especially the Insured Persons (OB),” he said.
From the time the RTW programme was introduced in 2007 until June 2022, he said SOCSO had successfully assisted 47,182 disabled individuals in doing so.
In another development, he said that they also planned to establish a MYFuturejobs Satellite Centre on campus in cooperation with UNIMAS.
“It aims for Unimas undergraduates and graduates to benefit from various employment service activities implemented such as career counselling, individual placement support, job search and matching as well as vocational training.
“In fact, the selection of UNIMAS as a strategic partner is a step that is right in line with the objective of ‘no Malaysian is left behind’, when rehabilitation services can now continue to be extended to all levels of society, especially in Sarawak,” he said.
Additionally, he said that this cooperation is also seen to benefit all parties involved, complementing both strengths and further enhance the development and sustainability of the country.