Sarawak Deputy Premier, Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian has questioned whether Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen truly understands the financial and operational realities behind his proposal for the Sarawak Government to establish state-owned private hospitals that charge public hospital rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Sim, who is also the Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, said the idea may sound appealing in theory but is not practical without understanding the actual costs of running a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf such a hospital were to be built, it would essentially follow the model of the Sarawak Heart Centre, which was built by the state government but is operated by the Federal Ministry of Health,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust the medical materials used for a heart procedure, such as unclogging blocked arteries, cost around RM8,000 to RM10,000 and that\u2019s not even including the cost of doctors, nurses, or utilities. So, can this really be affordable?\u201d he said when met by reporters after officiating the opening of the Sarawak International Conference on Ageing (SICA) today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Sim noted that the Federal Government currently rents the Sarawak Heart Centre from the state for a symbolic RM10 per month, allowing the Ministry of Health to subsidise patient costs so that life-saving heart surgeries can be done for only RM300 to RM500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m not sure Chong knows what he\u2019s talking about. He should do his homework first before making such statements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Dr Sim urged Sarawak Members of Parliament to speak up in Parliament to ensure the state receives fairer treatment, particularly in terms of funding for healthcare infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed out that while the Federal Government funded a RM906 million cancer hospital in Alor Setar, Kedah in the Northern Region Cancer Centre with 200 beds, Sarawak was required to first finance its own cancer hospital project before being reimbursed later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I attended the first meeting in April, I was told about the Northern Region Cancer Centre in Alor Setar. Why didn\u2019t they ask the Kedah Government to pay first? Why is Sarawak being asked to do so? Aren\u2019t we all Malaysians?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Sim praised Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg for continuing with the construction of the state\u2019s cancer hospital despite financial constraints, putting the health of Sarawakians first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur Premier is very compassionate and always puts our people first. Since the Federal Government says they have no money, we don\u2019t want to keep saying the same \u2014 because we don\u2019t want our people to die of cancer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Sim added that Sarawak has done its best within its capacity but urged Sarawak MPs to \u201cunderstand what they are talking about\u201d and continue fighting in Kuala Lumpur for the state\u2019s rightful share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sarawak Deputy Premier, Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian has questioned whether Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen truly understands the financial and operational realities behind his proposal for the Sarawak Government to establish state-owned private hospitals that charge public hospital rates. Dr Sim, who is also the Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, said the idea may sound appealing in theory but is not practical without understanding the actual costs of running a hospital. \u201cIf such a hospital were to be built, it would essentially follow theRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33963,"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\/33962"}],"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=33962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33964,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33962\/revisions\/33964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}