Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap has come to the defence of Deputy Premier and Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, following criticism from Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong over Dr Sim\u2019s overseas benchmarking visits and alleged rural healthcare neglect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap said Dr Sim\u2019s trips abroad were not for show, but strategic efforts to gather knowledge and best practices aimed at improving Sarawak\u2019s healthcare system. He stressed that true reform requires vision, planning, and leadership rooted in service to the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDr Sim\u2019s overseas visits are part of a results-driven and fact-based approach. What Sarawakians want are better services, not political distractions,\u201d Yap said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He expressed full support for the Sarawak Public Health Master Plan, which was launched in April 2025 and is fully self-financed by the Sarawak government. He pointed out that Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia to have undertaken such a comprehensive, independent initiative to reform healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe implementation of this plan is already underway, especially in rural and remote communities \u2014 targeting non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, and environmental health,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap also reminded that healthcare infrastructure and funding fall under the responsibility of the Federal Government. He questioned Yong\u2019s silence on these issues during her party\u2019s time in federal power from 2018 to 2020 and again from 2022 to the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat has she done to improve Klinik Kesihatan Tanah Puteh in her own constituency? Has she pushed for upgrades, more staffing, or even visited the clinic to engage with healthcare workers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlighting Dr Sim\u2019s achievements, Yap cited the establishment of the Sarawak Heart Centre, the push for the state\u2019s first cancer centre, and the 2022 amendment of the Sarawak Public Health Ordinance which gave the state greater autonomy in managing public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThanks to these reforms, Sarawak can now respond more swiftly to crises like COVID-19 and dengue without waiting for federal approval,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the local assemblyman, Yap said he works closely with health officers, JKR, local councils, and community leaders to monitor services at Hospital Sentosa and Klinik Kesihatan Kota Sentosa, as well as to promote health awareness and improve service delivery under the RTP programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLeaders must build, not break; offer solutions, not slogans; take responsibility, not cheap shots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called on all elected representatives to prioritise the people and match their words with real work, adding, \u201cThe future of Sarawak\u2019s healthcare lies in service to the rakyat, not politicising every issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap has come to the defence of Deputy Premier and Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, following criticism from Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong over Dr Sim\u2019s overseas benchmarking visits and alleged rural healthcare neglect. Yap said Dr Sim\u2019s trips abroad were not for show, but strategic efforts to gather knowledge and best practices aimed at improving Sarawak\u2019s healthcare system. He stressed that true reform requires vision, planning, and leadership rooted in service to the people. \u201cDr Sim\u2019s overseasRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33428,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33427\/revisions\/33428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}