KUCHING, April 2: The 10km-radius travel regulation imposed by the Ministry of Health (MoH) not only adds unnecessary bureaucracy for patients to get needed medical attention but it also causes much inconvenience especially for patients in rural areas, asserted Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.
“While I understand the reasoning behind such regulations especially during an outbreak such as this, I urge the minister (Health Minister Datuk Seri Adham Baba) to take into consideration the local demographics of Sarawak and access of healthcare for rural folks, which consist of a huge chunk of the population in Sarawak whom may need to travel more than 10km for access to a public health facility especially hospitals.
“A district clinic may not provide the necessary medical attention or even supplies to these patients, making it a necessity for them to travel further to the hospitals which are normally in the city,” according to Dr Yii in a press statement today.
Yesterday, Dr Adham announced that Malaysians and all foreigners residing in the country are not allowed to travel further than a 10km radius from their residences during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.
Dr Yii explained that in the event of an infectious disease outbreak, patients do not just make “casual trips” to the hospitals due to concerns of catching the virus in a hospital environment, which means that a huge majority, if not all such trips are of necessity especially for important follow-ups or treatment such as for cancer patients or even cardiac patients.
He noted that in Sarawak, the main treatment centre for both types of said patients are in Kuching and people in the northern region of Sarawak may need to fly all the way down south for such specialised treatment as well.
He also noted that even for residents in Kuching, the Specialist Heart Centre is in the district of Kota Samarahan, and for patients to travel there, it may be more than 10km itself.
“Such regulations may also affect follow-ups and even medication refilling for patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) or other chronic diseases, including pregnant mothers especially in the rural areas seeking pre-natal followups. Babies due for scheduled vaccination are also affected by this regulation,” he added.
Dr Yii opined that proper documentation of hospital or clinic appointments, or even proper medicine prescriptions is sufficient evidence to be shown at roadblocks or inspections for such special consideration to be given to patients. — DayakDaily
