Its chairman Razali Ismail said the department, which held a discussion with the commission last week, was coping with heavy constraints.
“Under international standards, detainees are entitled to the same level of medical care as individuals in the community at large but Suhakam notes that the Immigration Department is coping with severe budget and resource constraints,” he said in a statement.
He said the department had informed Suhakam of this issue during a discussion of major detention reforms, including improved medical care.
Razali was responding to a report by Reuters on March 30 that revealed more than one hundred foreigners had died in the past two years in Malaysia’s immigration detention centres based on documents by Suhakam.
The report said the deaths were due to various diseases and unknown causes.
It cited 83 deaths in 2015, and at least 35 in 2016 up to Dec 20.
The figures in Suhakam’s documents were based on immigration department data provided to the commission, the report added.
Razali said dilapidated detention centres were in the process of being rebuilt and standard operating procedures were being revised based on recommendations by Suhakam and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC).
“Suhakam has observed that there are concentrations of people with various health problems in Malaysian immigration detention centres that can lead to the transmission of fatal diseases to detainees and detention centre staff,” he said.
Razali, who was president of the United Nations General Assembly from 1996 to 1997, said the statistics from the immigration department indicate that many deaths in detention centres were due to chronic health conditions such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and septicaemia.
“These statistics have been shared in the spirit of openness and transparency and to assist Suhakam in executing its mandates to, among others, investigate complaints and conduct visits to places of detention and provide recommendations for improvement,” he added.
He said Suhakam had over the years highlighted issues in relation to health in immigration detention centres and previous statistics had given rise to concerns regarding the delivery of healthcare in these places.
“Health is central to many aspects of immigration detention given that many detainees suffer from poor health and existing medical concerns because of personal circumstances, poverty, lifestyle or the environment from which they come,” he added.