By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 25: In light of the recent revelation of British Princess Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis, Deputy Premier of Sarawak Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian recounted the similar journey faced by his wife Datin Amar Enn Ong.
He stressed that no one wants to have cancer, and the disease does not care whether the victim is young or old, rich or poor, male or female, and what race or religion they are.
“Enn, my other half, is a cancer survivor. We were shocked by the diagnosis. We were in our 40s. Our children (Enson and Simson) were small.
“We went through the same experience together as a family with the support of our friends and my medical colleagues (beyond their call of duty).
“Indeed, for everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone,” he said in a recent Facebook post.
He then sincerely wished Her Royal Highness Princess Kate a speedy recovery and hoped that she would stay strong.
“Any family, be it royalty or ordinary, deserves respect, privacy, and prayers,” he added.
Dr Sim, who is Sarawak Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government (MPHLG), further mentioned that the late Sarawak Governor, Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, was also a cancer survivor who was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006. Yet, he lived for another 18 years because of his early diagnosis.
However, Taib’s wife, the late Datuk Patinggi Puan Sri Laila Taib, died of lung cancer in 2009, just a few months after diagnosis because it was diagnosed late.
Following this, Dr Sim vowed to continue to fight for the construction of Sarawak Cancer Centre to cater to the needs of cancer patients in the State.
In addition, he said cancer treatment is extremely expensive, especially with the new targeted immunotherapy, but he expects many new genomic therapy breakthroughs with artificial intelligence (AI) and gene sequencing in the next ten years.
“One type of drug therapy for stage 4 breast cancer costs USD30,000 per month (not in Health Ministry’s blue book). If responding, (the patient) can survive another (for) five years.
“The fortunate thing is we currently have good cancer specialists in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH). We just need to have the facilities. In Malaysia, often we have the hardware but not the software,” he emphasised.
The proposed Sarawak Cancer Centre project has been tabled in Parliament last year. — DayakDaily
