A Lingeswaran said the ministry’s reply to him in the Dewan Negara indicated that a request for RM1.6 billion by the hospitals for this purpose was still pending. He added that there were 11,622 faulty and obsolete medical equipment.

“Based on the annual budget approved for medical equipment purchase, it is nearly impossible to resolve the problem,” he told FMT.

The former Hospital Sungai Bakap director said there must be a way to channel funds urgently to replace these faulty and obsolete machines as “Malaysian lives matter”.

“A total of RM1.01 billion was allocated to all public hospitals to replace unserviceable and obsolete medical equipment from 2020 to this year, which works out to RM334 million per year. There is still a need for RM 1.3 billion to resolve the problem.

“This is almost impossible with the current funding mechanism. Priorities must change as faulty equipment can lead to long waits for appointments and test results for the patients. Such delays could cost lives and result in malpractice lawsuits,” he told FMT.

Lingeswaran, who was nominated to the senate by the Penang state government, also asked how the government planned to resolve this issue which was affecting the prompt delivery of healthcare services to the rakyat.

In its reply, the ministry said that the replacements will be carried out in stages based on the availability of funds with priority given to primary healthcare institutions in the main cities. It said the medical equipments are more expensive as they are the latest versions in the market.

Primary healthcare facilities that will be given priority are those in Perak, Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak.