He said the country was not facing an imminent war, and that with rising cancer rates, there was a more pressing need for funds to improve people’s health.
However, his motion was rejected by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia on the grounds that funds could only be reduced, not transferred.
“Do you see war happening any time soon? Are we going to war against Singapore? Or war with Indonesia? You don’t need RM5 billion for that.
“There is a war going on here in Malaysia. People are dying of cancer.
“And yet, Parliament Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia again rejected my motion to provide financial help to them, by channelling RM2 billion to the health ministry from the defence ministry to set up a cancer stimulus package,” Santiago said at a press conference in Parliament today.
He said the money could be used for cancer medicine (RM1 billion), a national cancer fund (RM400 million), training of new oncologists (RM400 million) as well as cancer research and early detection (RM200 million).
“Why is it important? If you detect a problem earlier, the person can live longer. Then they will not be a financial burden when they go to hospitals.
“It becomes a problem because research by the ministry shows that one out of 10 men will get cancer, and one out of nine women will face the same thing. And this was in 2011. It would be much higher today.
“Also, 26 oncologists in government hospitals is not enough. If you ask the oncologists in the hospitals, the number of people coming in to get checked is so high. These include children.
“They are overwhelmed.”
Santiago previously proposed that Malaysia’s health expenditure to gross domestic product be raised to 7% as recommended by the Word Health Organisation. However, this fell on deaf ears.
In March this year, Prime Minister Najib Razak said the country’s defence spending would continue to grow as its armed forces had embarked on a long-term plan to modernise and upgrade its equipment.
In proposing a RM3.29 billion defence budget, Najib said the country needed to equip the armed forces with the capabilities required to face modern warfare, both symmetrically and asymmetrically.