KUCHING, Sept 19: The Sarawak government will continue to negotiate with the Federal government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to realise the setting up of a Sarawak Cancer Center with an estimated cost of RM900 million.
According to Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, under the tenure of previous Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Health (MOH) Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, the process of building the cancer facilities in the State was close to being finalised .
“However, with the changing of Federal government recently, the process will need to start all over again, and Sarawak will work with the new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the new MOH Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on the Sarawak Cancer Center,” he said on his Facebook’s posting yesterday.
Dr Sim who is also Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor added the Sarawak government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has been very kind to offer the financial options to Federal government to build the health facility in order to enable Sarawakians to have the best cancer facility locally as soon as possible.
He said this was because cancer was the second most contracted diseases in the State after the heart disease.
“Cancer treatment is extremely expensive that many cannot afford for private even with insurance, and instead of traveling to West Malaysia (for cancer treatment), there is an urgent need for the comprehensive cancer facilities to be built in the state and the state had the medical expertise locally,” he added.
Recently, the Nuclear Department of Sarawak Heart Center in Kota Samarahan received a Siemen’s SPECT (Single-photon emission computed tomography) worth RM11.63 million which will greatly increase the capacity of the department to support the Cancer Services in Sarawak.
The Siemen’s SPECT is the third equipment out of the seven medical equipment (total RM 62.59 million) approved for 2020-2021 by MOH under Perikatan Nasional (PN) Plus government. – DayakDaily.
