It started with deputy health minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali stating the ministry’s target was to achieve one doctor for every 400 citizens by 2025.

Next year, he said, the ministry targeted one doctor for every 425 people.

Hearing this, Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai) said the target to achieve one doctor for every 400 people was drawn up in 2015 and had been set to be implemented in 2020.

Now, she said, the plan had been delayed to 2025.

Teo said that in her Kulai constituency, there were 320,000 residents and not even one doctor for every 500 people.

“Why do we have targets if they cannot be achieved?” she said, as other MPs joined in to support or heckle her.

Teo also raised the issue of contract doctors who could be employed to achieve the target.

“There are so many contract doctors, yet the health ministry has failed to achieve its target,” she said.

Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) also asked about the measures to tackle issues faced by contract doctors and the lack of specialists.

In response to this, Azmi said the government had drawn up several measures to increase specialist training.