KUCHING: ‘Sarawak Women in Health’ has been chosen as the theme for the state-level Women’s Day celebration next year.

According to Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, the organising committee has agreed to the theme chosen.

She believed the health sector would not be what it is today without women, so it’s only right to celebrate women who had or are working in the health sector.

“We cannot deny women’s significant contribution to the health sector everywhere. We must also acknowledge the sacrifices they made for the sector to be what it is today,” she added in her speech during the Third Sarawak Nursing Professional Scientific Meeting (SASM) opening ceremony at a local hotel yesterday.

She said there are 8,395 nurses in Sarawak out of whom only 170 are male.

Fatimah said a book entitled ‘Sarawak Women in Health’ will be released during the state-level Women’s Day celebration next year.

“The authors will do their best to feature Sarawakian women who have contributed significantly to the state’s health sector, most possibly from pre-Malaysian or colonial time.

“The book will be launched during the celebration next year,” she said.

It will be the latest in the Sarawak Women series to be published since 2010.

Also present during the ceremony were State Health Matron Aieshah Zainudin, Sarawak Nursing Profession Association (SNPA) president Christina Baun Lian, SASM organising chairperson Lee Na and State Health Department representative Juliana Mohd Ali.