KAPIT, Jan 16: Sarawak has been allocated RM19 million to upgrade health clinics under the Bitara Madani programme this year, and of that figure, RM2.7 million will be used to upgrade six health clinics in the Kapit division, said Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
“The clinics are in Nanga Ibau, Nanga Bena, Nanga Tekalit, Nanga Bangkit, Long Busang, and Nanga Melinau.
“The Nanga Sekeruh health clinic was upgraded last year under the same allocation,” he said after a visit to Song clinic, according to a Bernama news report yesterday (Jan 15).
The Bitara Madani initiative focuses on resolving problems and issues faced by the people, and enhancing the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public service delivery to ensure the welfare of the people.
Meanwhile, Lukanisman said that the federal government needs to give special attention to and planning for Sarawak to provide dialysis services for patients in rural areas as there are currently no private sector services for it.
Citing Kapit Hospital as an example, he said patients had to undergo dialysis at the Song health clinic—about 52km from Kapit—due to the lack of space and insufficient dialysis machines at the hospital.
He added there are 64 patients in Kapit who need dialysis, but around 12 to 20 patients had to go to Song clinic.
“Some of them get dialysis outside the Kapit division while Song health clinic itself has 30 patients needing it,” he said, as quoted by Bernama.
He said as insufficient space made it difficult to install additional machines, development funds needed to be allocated to provide a larger space.
“Preliminary planning needs to be done so that there is a special provision if the project is listed under the Budget 2025.
“We need to look at the development of Kapit Hospital as a whole and not just develop it bit by bit but to make it a complete hospital with minor specialists,” he said, adding that the lack of dialysis machines outside cities was also raised in other areas he visited such as Sri Aman, Serian, Bintulu and Miri. — DayakDaily
