KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should pay a visit to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and Bau District Hospital to see first-hand the condition of these hospitals.
Subsequently, Najib should announce the allocation of sufficient funds to meet the needs of all hospitals and clinics in Sarawak, including the construction of all clinics already approved but not constructed yet.
In making the call, state PKR vice-chairman Boniface Willy Tumek said while a first-time visitor or even the occasional visitor would more likely than not find his or her visit to SGH in Kuching unnerving, the less-than-comforting feeling would start outside the hospital premises at the SGH car park.
“Trying to find an empty parking lot in the SGH car park is an exercise in futility and it has been described as a nightmarish reality. The multi-storey car park project, now at least 10 years in the planning, looks set to be pinned to the drawing board.
“The last time a member of the state government spoke about this project was in January 2016 when Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil expressed his hope that the project would commence soon. He said the project has been awarded to a local company but was unable to provide further details,” the PKR Mas Gading branch chairman and PKR’s potential candidate for Tasik Biru told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Boniface, who was in SGH on Tuesday, said a slot in the private car-park cost RM5.30, burdening staff of the hospital, family members of the patients and other visitors to SGH.
“A walk along the corridor or aisle on the first and second floor of the Specialist Clinic block in SGH reminds one of many roads in Sarawak, that are dotted by potholes. The corridors are riddled with depressions on the surface of the floor. Some of the depressions are almost half an inch deep.
“At the entrance of the toilets the hospital administrators have put up signs carrying the emphatic ‘Tiada bintang’ (No star) ‘warning’, presumably to give visitors ample notice not to expect ‘Three-star toilet’ environment.”
He said stories had also surfaced about patients being sent home prematurely because of severe lack of beds in the wards.
“Outside the SGH there are many instances of hospitals and clinics wanting in critical facilities and equipment.”
As for Bau District Hospital, the daily congestion there could be a thing of the past if there was a separate mother and child clinic (MCH).
“The MCH is still on the wish-list. The folks of several villages along the Bau/Lundu road will no longer get their medicine from their fellow untrained villager if the ‘Klinik Kesihatan Stungkor’ (Stungkor Health Clinic) had been constructed as originally planned, some 15 years ago.”
He said the land for the clinic had already been acquired and was now vested in the federal commissioner of land, adding that the clinic too was still on the wish list.
“All these point to one single factor: the public medical and health sector in Sarawak is grossly under-funded.”
Boniface said Sarawakians were however greatly assured by recent statements from Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem and Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan that Najib was the best ever prime minister for Sarawak and Sabah and that these two nation states were always on the prime minister’s mind.
“And Sarawakians are confident that Najib will take cognisance of this need of Sarawakians – the long standing fixed deposit of his government.”-Borneo Post
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