Govt urged to divert funds

The Star

‘Set up 1M’sia clinics in remote areas as they are lacking health services’

By LOH FOON FONG

foonfong@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: The Government should divert funds for setting up 1Malaysia clinics to remote rather than urban areas.

Malaysian Medical Association president Datuk Dr N.K.S Tharmaseelan said the interior was lacking health services while there were already many clinics in the urban areas.

“The funds should be channelled to opening 1Malaysia clinics in the interior areas, and they should be manned by doctors to provide the best care for patients”, he said.

He was responding to The Star’s report on Aug 5 that many indigenous people in remote areas could not afford to pay for transportation to hospitals resulting in many foregoing medical treatment.

Dr Tharmaseelan said that Malaysia has one of the world’s best healthcare systems, which is provided almost free for the poor, but it would be unfortunate if patients were not able to get the services due to transportation problems.

While the Federal Government should increase the annual budget allocation to meet the needs of remote communities, state governments too must up their contributions, he added.

“Most states do have provisions for funds from various sources, but the lack of coordination among the bodies involved, including the NGOs, is the main problem,” he said.

Dr Tharmaseelan said that every state should have a co-ordinating body to overcome the lack of awareness about services available, red tape and funds that were not used or under-utilised.

“The elected representatives should highlight these funds and source for more funds from the federal and state governments,” he said.

With increased funding, ambulances should be made accessible to the poor for non-emergency operations and procedures, he added.

Dr Tharmaseelan said that Sarawak had been a big logistics challenge for healthcare delivery for a long time as there were still many communities living in areas very remote and difficult to access.

For this reason, Sarawak provided ambulance boats and four-wheel drives for hard to access areas besides flying doctor services, he said.

For Sabah, he said, poor patients in need of transport to return home could go to the Social Work Unit of the hospital.

NGO: Base medical assistants or docs in orang asli villages

PETALING JAYA: An NGO wants the Government to base medical assistants or doctors in orang asli or natives’ villages, just as the British did in colonial times.

Kelantan Orang Asli Network deputy chairman Arom Asir said the late Dr J. Malcolm Bolton, the first Department of Aborigines medical director who developed a comprehensive medical service for the indigenous minorities of Malaya (peninsular Malaysia) from 1955 during the “Emergency” until 1972, had stationed two hospital assistants in each orang asli post.

“But you do not find these medical personnel nowadays while community clinics are few and most are not in operation,” he said.

He was responding to The Star’s report on Aug 5 that indigenous communities could not afford to pay for transportation to hospitals, resulting in many foregoing medical treatment.

Arom said there were more landing posts being allocated and flying doctors coming into their settlement in recent years, but emergency cases remained a challenge, he said.

While the Orang Asli Affairs Department had stated that it was responsible for transporting orang asli from their villages to hospital, Arom said the helicopter often arrived late - a couple of days later.

There are 15,000 orang asli living in Kelantan with Temiar being the most populated, followed by Merik, Jahai and Batek, he said. They had far to travel to a hospital.