KUCHING: The independent public policy research and advocacy organisation Galen Centre has called for urgent healthcare reforms in the forthcoming 12th Malaysian Plan (12MP).
It urged the federal government to accord top priority to investments in the development of healthcare infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak or even consider the return of health autonomy to the two state governments.
Galen Centre chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib pointed out that Malaysia had always been considered as one of the countries with the best healthcare system in the world but the reality check on healthcare in Sabah and Sarawak did not match the judgement.
He said, “More than a third of the population in Sarawak and Sabah continue to live beyond 5km from any kind of health facility and have to travel for hours to seek treatment.
“In Sarawak, 45 per cent out of 209 clinics are without doctors and staffed mostly by assistant medical officers and nurses.
“This is the concern that was raised last year by prominent figures including the Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian.”
Azrul said this in his welcoming remarks when addressing the 93 participants of the one-day healthcare conference “Healthcare in East Malaysia: Ensuring that no one is left behind” held at Waterfront Hotel here yesterday.
“The reality is that despite more than 60 years being part of Malaysia, things are moving but they are not moving fast enough (especially for Sabah and Sarawak),” he stressed, adding that there were people who were being left behind, especially in the two states.
Azrul went on to say that Malaysia was very fortunate to have universal healthcare since the 80s.
“This basically means it is accessible to anyone as well as in terms of affordability. However, the issue concerned is about the universal coverage.
“If you have to travel more than 5km for healthcare facility and have t to pay a lot for transportation cost, that means you do not have (healthcare) coverage,” he added, pointing out that the rural people did not have the same accessibility to healthcare as the urban population.
“For Sabah and Sarawak, there is a need for more health infrastructure facilities in rural areas and strengthening of existing services, but most importantly, in ensuring that they are staffed with sufficient skilled healthcare workers,” he said.
“Through discussions of issues today (yesterday) such as bridging the critical infrastructure gap, improving quality of treatment, and the state of cancer treatment access and coverage in East Malaysia, Galen Centre believes that healthcare reforms in the upcoming 12MP should make priority investments in the development of healthcare infrastructure in the two states, and even consider the return of health autonomy for the East Malaysia state governments.”
The speakers for the conference were former director of the Sarawak State Health Department at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer from Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Prof Datuk Dr Andrew Kiyu Dawie; Mercy Malaysia Sarawak Chapter core volunteer Dr Aini Fahriza Ibrahim; Malaysian Medical Association (Sarawak Branch) cum Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society (SCCS) vice president Dr Ong Eng-Joe; Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii; The Story of Kam Agong documentary video director Agnes Padan; Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM) Sarawak State representative Dr Liew Shan Fap; Society for Cancer Awareness and Advocacy Kuching (SCAN) president Sew Boon Lui; and Sarawak Breast Cancer Support Group (SBCSG) president Datin Juriah Sulehan.
