When getting treatment becomes a problem
Published on: Sunday, December 08, 2019
By: Sherell Jeffrey
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Strangers become “guardians”, providing much needed help and support for whatever the cause.
One such person is Dr Zaiton Yahaya, a family medicine consultant at Sandakan Health Clinic, who chose to reach out instead of waiting for the intended recipients to come.
Having worked with HIV cases since 2006, Dr Zaiton noticed that some of her patients skipped their treatment or dropped out at a later stage due to financial constraints.
She has had patients coming from as far as Tongod, located some 200 kilometres from the nearest health clinic in Sandakan. Coming for treatment would mean having to spend between RM150 and RM200.
She approached the Malaysian AIDS Council and subsequently registered her non-governmental organisation, the Sandakan AIDS Support Group Association in 2008.
Saga has since been re-established as the Sabah AIDS Awareness Group Association (Saga) in 2015.
With funds from the Malaysian AIDS Council, she started Saga in Sandakan, her home base, before expanding to other districts such as Semporna, Tawau and Kota Kinabalu.
“Sabah needs more help. We can’t simply rely on sponsors or ask funds from the State Government or corporate bodies to help us reach out to the poor,” she said.
In 2018, she collaborated with the Malaysian Aids Council in setting up a project called the Sabah Health Access Programme (Shape). Its pilot project was initiated in Sandakan under former State Health and People’s Wellbeing Assistant Minister – the late Datuk Stephen Wong.
Taking in her father’s footstep, current Sandakan MP Vivian Wong, also pledged to provide support to the cause, not only monetary-wise but participation as well.
She noted the hard work Dr Zaiton and her team has put into spreading the news not only to educate the people, but also to provide transportation expenses to lessen the burden of underprivileged patients.
A total of 63 patients living with chronic diseases ranging from HIV, cancer, thalassemia etc were subsequently listed in the pilot project. Beneficiaries received cash up to RM150 per hospital visit and benefits from peer-led support groups, workshops and counselling by Saga.
The encouraging response from the patients provided Dr Zaiton and her team a sense of fulfilment.
“They are filled with joy and gratitude that someone is actually helping them. Many of them have lost hope of going to clinic due to their financial limitation. Their joy is our fulfilment,” she said.
In most cases, families with several young children living with chronic disease, failed to follow-up with their treatment, especially when only one spouse is working and earning a monthly income of between RM400 and RM500.
Forking up money for transportation to the clinic or hospital is just beyond their spending power.
“They cannot afford to go to the clinic or even the hospitals, they fail to follow-up and that’s a pity,” said Dr Zaiton who has had her fair share of losing patients due to such circumstances.
It may already be too late by the time they come for treatment.
While it is the government’s responsibility to provide the best healthcare for the people, the public health agenda can be enormously costly to shoulder alone.
Thus, works led by organisations outside of the government to assume the part of that responsibility is welcomed and greatly appreciated.
Over the years, Dr Zaiton and her team through Saga continued to contribute towards eradicating AIDS in the State by putting HIV patients under effective and continuous treatment to stop the spread of the deadly disease because people who are virally-suppressed are non-infectious and possess negligible risk of infecting others.
Most importantly, Saga contributes towards the sustainability of our rural community. The assistance rendered by Saga not only provides immediate relief to the poor and meet their short-term medical needs but also helps to ensure their long-term sustainability.
This means that patients who return to normal health and regain their physical as well as mental strength after successful treatment will be able to get back on their feet and become productive members of society.
Their latest initiative saw a total of RM290,000 raised during the Malaysian Aid Foundation Red Ribbon Kota Kinabalu Gala fundraising Dinner.
Plans to introduce the programme in phases to other patients in Lahad Datu and Tawau will hopefully materialise with the cash in hand.
But in order to do that, there has to be proper planning to ensure help reaches those in real need of help.
“I have to do proper planning first. First to see the existing recipients get the help and find more patients,” said Dr Zaiton who already has 30 patients on the programme’s waiting list.
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