KUCHING: The Sarawak government wants the federal government to give the state administrative autonomy in healthcare sector and more funding for its operation so that it can better manage its healthcare services.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said with administrative autonomy, the state government could create posts and determine the numbers of housemen, medical officers and specialists needed.
“This (giving of autonomy on health to Sarawak) is in line with Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s promises anyway,” he said during the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Sarawak Branch 47th anniversary dinner at Imperial Hotel on Saturday.
He added during a recent meeting with the secretary-general of the Ministry of Health (MoH), he had reminded the latter not to talk about the national norms for Sarawak.
“Your national norms are Malayan norms, not Sarawak norms. In Malaya, in two hours you can already reach the big hospitals, but in Sarawak you might just reach another town.
“Why are we so backward? Since 1976, Petronas has contributed RM660 billion to the Malaysia government. This is Sarawak oil and gas but we only get RM33 billion,” said Dr Sim.
He said the state’s oil was used to develop the country, but which states were the federal government developing?
“How much is RM660 billion to Kuala Lumpur? That is a minimum of (building) 83 twin towers. And does Sarawak have any twin tower? Tengok sahaja (we see only).
“These are some of things we need fellow Malaysians to understand. Sarawak is unhappy with the federal government because not much development has been done for the state in the past years,” he pointed out.
On the issue of housemanship, Dr Sim said Sarawakians should be given priority to serve in public hospitals as they would continue to stay and serve longer.
Meanwhile, MMA Sarawak Branch chairman Dr Morni Abu Samat said issues that had affected the medical profession now was the harmonisation of consultation fees for general practitioners (GPs) in private clinics, third party administrators (TPA), obtaining annual practicing certificates, indemnity insurance for doctors, implementation of CPD points, long waiting time for house officers’ postings and training of house officers.
He pointed out that the waiting period to be a houseman is between one and two years.
“Other issues that will arise in the future include the urbanisation of medical services, telemedicine and overproduction of doctors,” he said.
Dr Morni revealed there were 34 medical schools in Malaysia that produced 150 to 200 medical students per year.
“These numbers are going to affect the young medical graduates because we do not have enough posts for them in our hospitals,” he said.
He hoped MoH and MMA could work closely together to come out with solutions to the problems.
Also present was MMA president-elect Prof Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy.
