RM4m spent on airlifting interior patients
Published on: Friday, November 16, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: State Health and People's Wellbeing Minister Datuk Stephen Wong said there are two health services using helicopter in Sabah namely the MEDEVAC service or Medical Evacuation which is the transmission of patients from one health facility to a reference hospital and the Air Doctor service. He said the MEDEVAC service, which was previously incorporated under the Flying Doctor Service, was created separately since 2017."Since September 2017 to October 2018, a total of RM4.46 million was spent to transfer 269 patients from district hospitals to referral hospitals in the State through the MEDEVAC service," he explained.
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He said the Flying Doctor's service which ended in 2016 would resume from 2019.He said pending a new contract, health services to most villages visited by the Flying Doctor's services, have been taken over by the team Land or River Mobile Clinic. Of the 60 villages visited by the Flying Doctor Service previously, 52 villages are visited monthly by the Land and River Mobile Clinic Team.In addressing the issue of medical expertise in government hospitals, Wong said the concept of cluster hospital was established.
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The Cluster Hospital Pioneer Project started in Tawau in 2014 involving Tawau Hospital as lead hospital and Semporna Hospital and Kunak Hospital as non-lead hospital. Under this approach, the services available at Tawau Hospital are extended to patients at Semporna Hospital and Kunak Hospital through regular visits of multiple disciplinary physicians.
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"In 2017, the State Health Department expanded Cluster Hospital approach to other districts in Sabah by adding three more clusters namely the Cluster of Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Keningau," he said. He said two more cluster namely Cluster Beaufort and Kota Marudu will be developed when the project upgrading of the two hospitals to Specialist Hospital is completed.With this approach, the State Health Department can provide expert services at unmanned hospitals through scheduled visits so that patients will not need treatment at Specialist Hospitals.On delegation of power Wong said, his Ministry has held a series of discussions with their counterpart at Federal level, emphasising on the Malaysian Plan (RMK) development projects in Sabah which should be hastened."Similarly, to enhancing access to health services, the Ministry will also identify infrastructure development needs inSabah including the construction of new clinics and which should be upgraded to align with the Sabah Development Plan as a whole," he said. He said this was the first step in the delegation of authority aspect in which the Ministry should have decision-making powers in determining the priority of development projects for Sabah. He said the next stage of the delegation of authority is in managing development provisions for upgrading projects and building improvements, rural health services, hospital facilities, in-service training as well as research and research. The Ministry will consult the Ministry of Health in the near future to find the appropriate approach to realising this. On another development, he noted that a total of RM6.86 million has been spent by the State Health Department involving 135 repair and upgrading projects. In addition 86 rehabilitation and upgrading of health clinics and 38 projects at four hospitals at the dental clinics and seven at the pharmacies. On the issue of ambulance vehicles faced by hospitals in Sabah, he said the Ministry through the State Health Department has taken immediate steps to address the matter. He said last year, 74 ambulances were received involving a total cost of RM33.3 million. Of these, 19 ambulances were distributed to health clinics while 55 ambulances were distributed to hospitals.He said the Ministry has also received numerous complaints on the shortage of medical devices faced throughout Sabah. "My Ministry received RM6.97 Million through the Sabah State Health Department for the purchase of more than 450 medical equipment such as ultrasound, defribillator and emergency equipment and laboratories."This purchase is for replacement of damaged assets as well as to improve the quality of existing services," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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