The special sitting was held at the parliamentary temporary block with about 21 Members of Parliament – 16 Opposition and five from Barisan Nasional.

The one-hour sitting was headed by Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

The Special Chambers is to ensure there will be no more rejected motions to discuss matters of urgent public importance under Standing Order 18.

DAP’s Sarekei MP Wong Ling Biu and PKR’s Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul had the opportunity to raise one issue each.

Wong raised the issue of the 1Malaysia Clinic in Jakar Sarakei and the Sarikei polyclinic.

Wong asked if the Health Ministry had plans to place a permanent doctor at the 1Malaysia clinic.

“At present treatment is only for simple ailments. Serious cases need to be referred to the polyclinic.”

Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya said there were plans to place more doctors at 1Malaysia clinics in rural areas.

He said as of April this year, 38 medical officers were posted to rural clinics, adding that there were 338 rural clinics nationwide.

Hilmi said the ministry needed assistance from the Public Service Department and Finance Ministry for more manpower.

Johari spoke on the fate of rubber tappers in Kedah. He proposed to fix the price of scrap rubber at RM4 per kg to assist smallholders, who were badly hit by the dry weather and low rubber prices.

In her reply, acting Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Nancy Shukri said setting a fixed ceiling price for scrap rubber was not feasible due to the high cost involved.

She said there were already special incentives for smallholders and RM16.5 million had been allocated for this.

She added that RM7.28 million was also allocated for research and development to increase the use of natural rubber and to boost demand.

She cited the introduction of rubberised road as an example. Rubber has been used to build 772km of federal, state and rural roads.