“It’s pathetic to see that in a country where its Prime Minister has billions of ‘donations’ in his personal bank account, patients and their families are suffering,” added Teo, who is also DAP Assistant National Publicity Secretary. “Many of our people cannot afford private healthcare.”
She was expressing support for Director General of Health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who has acknowledged the Ministry of Health (MoH) faces challenges in providing quality healthcare services. The MoH has restricted resources even as demand for its services have increased.
The figures show the MoH has seen an increase in patients at public health facilities, with an estimated 8 per cent increase in patients from January to May this year, compared to the same period in the past year.
“This translates to over three million additional patients visiting public health clinics,” said Teo.
Allocations for the MoH in 2015 was RM23.31 billion, noted the MP, but reduced to RM23.03 billion in Budget 2016.
“However, the allocation for the PM’s Department was increased from RM19.2 billion to RM20.3 billion,” she said, wanting to know what projects under the PM’s Department were more important than saving lives.
The allocation for the Ministry of Health was cut by RM280 million in Budget 2016, she continued. “We are starting to see its consequences,” she said, citing the Pathology Department at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang as an example.
She learnt the Department issued a circular on September 6 for a “temporary halt” in pathology laboratory investigations as the department was unable to purchase necessary chemical reagents due to inadequate funds.
In another example cited by Teo, a prostate cancer patient who sought a blood test at the Sultanah Nora Ismail Hospital in Batu Pahat was told the results would take a few days because the blood sample had to be sent to Johor Bahru as they had run out of allocations.
Meanwhile Selayang Hospital did not have chemical reagents to run creatinine blood tests by the end of September, lamented Teo.
“Some of the Klinik Kesihatan have stopped stop doing screening for Hepatitis B for pregnant women,” charged the MP. “Hepatitis B is highly prevalent in our region.”