By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, March 24: Seventy-six per cent of all medical equipment in the Sarawak healthcare system is beyond economic repair (BER), a Sarawakian senator highlighted in Parliament yesterday.
When debating the King’s address, Senator Robert Lau inquired as to how this compared to the BER rate for Malaysia and how much was needed to replace all the broken equipment.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, he believed that looking ahead, Malaysia’s healthcare system needs to be improved where investment has to be increased and infrastructure as well as manpower needs to be revamped.
Citing Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s White Paper on the national healthcare system which will be tabled in Parliament in November for bi-partisan approval, Lau described it as a “positive move”.
Lau expressed his support as he agreed with Khairy that the national healthcare system has been “chronically underinvested” in.
Apart from the hardware, Lau asserted that manpower in the healthcare system was also an issue that needs looking into.
“The situation with contract staff and doctors are signs of the lack of investment in the healthcare system. Our population has increased but the manpower has not increased in tandem.
“Deputy Health Minister YB Datuk Aaron Dagang has announced in the Dewan Rakyat last week that (there will be) 11, 296 additional permanent posts for health personnel starting this year until 2025 at the total cost of RM3.4 billion.
“How are these posts distributed among the three regions in Malaysia, namely, Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah? Will the ministry provide the breakdown as to the staff strength for the three regions?” Lau asked.
He asserted that it is time for the Health Ministry to delegate and devolve decision-making and budgetary powers to Sarawak, Sabah and Malaya as allowed under Article 80 (4), (5) and (6) of the Federal Constitution.
“Let the three regions manage their own healthcare system. This should form one of the key thrusts in the blue print of the White Paper,” he said. — DayakDaily
