Archive for category Health
Private or public wings are but a fallacy
Letter by JT
It appears that yet again, CAP’s SM Idris has decided to go on a frolic of his own. This time by stating that Private Wings in Government Hospitals are the wrong things to do. Sometimes one really have to suspect if this guy truly knows what he is talking about or goes about criticizing everything and anything sundry just to occupy his time. There are only three components to a hospital bill: 1) Doctor’s fees 2) Hospital charges (Bed, Nursing, Utilities, Investigations, etc) and 3) Consumables (Medicines, gloves, catheters, stents, etc).
This government has been benevolent enough in providing and perhaps in the case of Sabah trying to provide, items 2 and 3 but cannot match up to 1. Idris wants equitable healthcare for everyone. When he says equitable what does he mean? If he means placing a few GTN tablets under the tongue for a heart attack, or placing a plaster of Paris cast for a broken tibia, or delivering the 3rd child in a mother with no co-morbidities, or putting up a drip for a dehydrated patient or placing a few stitches on a wound caused by the neighbor’s dog, that’s fine. This government would have no problems accommodating them.
But if he is talking about plating/nailing every fracture of a victim of a high speed polytraumatized patient, reconstructing all the facial bones in an accident victim, or doing a bypass for a coronary patient with recurrent pain or ballooning and placing an emergency stent in a patient with a heart attack or doing a liver transplant in a patient with liver cirrhosis, then Idris must surely know that even all of Malaysia’s Read the rest of this entry »
1Malaysia clinic: is the Health Ministry above the law?
Letter
By RS
It is distressing to learn from Dr. T. Jayabalan, the health adviser to the Consumers Association of Penang that medical assistants are giving out prescriptions for the wrong medicines or prescribing medicines which they are not allowed to prescribe and they have also been found to have wrongfully diagnosed patients at a study conducted at Kampar, Perak. And feedback thus far, from the MOH regarding the validity of MCs (Medical Certificates) issued by 1Malaysia Clinics have been unsatisfactory. The explanation issued by the Health Ministry’s Medical Practice Division officer, Dr Noraini Baba, stating that according to an internal MOH circular, MAs are allowed to issue MCs seems to suggest that she either doesn’t know the law or thinks she can actually circumvent a law through a department circular.
But perhaps CAP too should share of the blame for this vague situation. The last time they made so much noise, it resulted in ignorant officers at the Health Ministry rushing to pass an reckless legislation called the Private Healthcare, Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) which was conjured up in the dark corners of the Health Ministry and stamped with the Official Secrets Act (OSA) effectively excluding the stake holders from taking part in the discussions. The Act is surely unconstitutional.
A doctor today with an Annual Practicing Certificate (APC) is legal under the Medical Act 1971 but becomes illegal if his premise is unregistered under the PHFSA 2006. But a Hospital Assistant (HA) working in a presumably legal PHFSA premise, 1Malaysia Clinic, becomes immediately illegal Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should give Liow Tiong Lai an ultimatum to resolve the Sabah health crisis or be sacked
I am shocked and outraged by a letter I have received from a serving medical officer of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu about the deplorable conditions of the hospital complexes in Sabah particularly Kota Kinabalu which had been likened to Vietnam refugee camp.
Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had been Health Minister for more than two years and despite repeated complaints, he had turned a complete deaf ear and blind eye to the prolonged healthcare crisis and the deplorable hospital conditions in Sabah particularly in Kota Kinabalu.
The serving doctor in QEH wrote of the horrors suffered by the sick in Kota Kinabalu where they are subjected to “a wicked game of musical chairs” shunted around various hospital centres according to their changing healthcare needs as “there is not a single centre that can address a patient as a whole”.
The medical maze, which has brought total chaos to healthcare services in Sabah, includes the state’s only referral centre, Queen Elizabeth Hosptal and nearby centres like Hospital Bukit Padang the mental institution, Hospital Likas, the makeshift hospital in Lingzhi Museum in Kepayan and Umno’s favourite Sabah Medical Centre (SMC). Read the rest of this entry »
Class divisions in access to healthcare — what about Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Health on Wednesday, 24 March 2010
By Azly Rahman
‘Why can’t all Americans have the same access to healthcare to those enjoyed by members of Congress?’ is a popular question on the ObamaCare debate.
At the time of writing I am following the debate over universal healthcare for all Americans. If the US$1 trillion Bill passes, it will help insure 32 million Americans that do not have access to healthcare.
This is another controversial issue in the tradition of Democrats and Republicans. This is a good case study of one of the enduring issues of an advanced capitalist state.
I know friends who do not have health insurance and who question the human rights dimension of it – right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, endowed by the Creator who insist that ‘all men are created equal’ and cautioned by the Enlightenment thinker Jean Jacques Rousseau that “… everything is good in the hands of the Author of Things and everything degenerates in the hands of Man”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Rumah Sakit Yang Sakit
An Open Letter to Health Minister
Dear Yang Berkhidmat Liow Tiong Lai,
Mr. Wong, an elderly man presented at Hospital Likas because of severe breathlessness and was found to have severe pneumonia on chest x-ray.
He was then admitted to the High Dependency Unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) 30 minutes away for treatment.
He improved after six days and was then transferred to the normal ward for further recuperation.
A bed was urgently needed one day later and the frail Mr. Wong was then shipped off to Hospital Bukit Padang for ‘rehabilitation’.
Read the rest of this entry »
Healthcare As A Bottomless Pit
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Health on Monday, 22 March 2010
By M. Bakri Musa, MD, MS, FRCSC, FACS
[Invited editorial, Malaysian Journal of Medical Science, 17(1):1-2, Jan-Mar 2010.]
As a young surgeon at the General Hospital Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s, I remember pleading with Tan Sri Majid Ismail, then Director-General of the Ministry of Health, for funding of my research project.
A distinguished clinician turned policy maker, Tan Sri Majid was professionally interested in my proposal. Nonetheless he politely declined it, but not before offering me a comforting explanation. Between funding me and building a Klinik Desa (rural clinic) in Ulu Kelantan, the choice was clear, he gently told me. Besides, he assured me, I would have minimal difficulty securing funding elsewhere while those poor Kelantanese had no choice.
Tan Sri Majid said something else that reverberates in me today. “Healthcare is a bottomless pit,” he advised me, “but the resources to meet those literally endless worthy needs are limited, so society must set its priorities and draw the line somewhere.” The job of government is to ensure a minimal acceptable level of care for all, he added, and beyond that it is for individuals to set their own limits with their own resources.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bumburing Calls On Health Ministry To Expedite Upgrading Work On Tuaran Hospital
TUARAN, March 5 (Bernama) — Former Sabah deputy chief minister Datuk Wilfred Bumburing has called on the Health Ministry to expedite the upgrading of the Tuaran hospital to cater for the health care needs of about 120,000 people living in the area.
He said the hospital was in dire need of upgrading and it was sad that a hospital for a large district like Tuaran, with a population of 120,000, had no bed at all.
“I was also told that the hospital had been downgraded to a clinic in the past. In my speech in Parliment last year to debate the 2010 budget I have outlined all the reasons and rationale as to why the construction of the hospital is most urgently needed,” he told reporters here on Friday.
However the member of Parliment for Tuaran denied DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang’s recent allegation that the BN government had not done anything to develop Tuaran.
Bumburing said the Health Ministry had assured him that the second phase construction of the hospital would start this year.
“While appreciating Kit Siang’s concern, I have to mention that we in the Barisan Nasional have carried our duty and responsibility in bringing up to the relevant authorities matters that are of urgent public interest,” he said.
Read the rest of this entry »
Cockcroach and Blood Stained Blankets in Hospital
Letter by Ganesh
My wife recently delivered our baby in Pantai Hospital Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Being a premium hospital situated ideally to cater to the Damansara Heights and Bangsar affluent residents, one would expect minimum standards of service and hygiene to be practiced.
I was appalled to find that the hospital had blood stained blankets and was infested with cockroaches.
Our nightmare began on the first day we checked in at about 1 pm. That evening, the hospital forgot to serve the tea time snack and also the dinner meal. When asked why, they could not give a proper explanation and had just said, “sudah lupa”.
My room was a brand new room that was just set up for a new patient. Initially, there were no blankets. My wife who was admitted, was freezing in the room for several hours. I had to ask several times for blankets to be given. However, when the blankets did come, the blankets were heavily stained with dried blood and urine. Refer to the enclosed picture. The staff nurse confirmed it was dried blood. I was shocked beyond believe. I immediately asked the nurses for an explanation but they were unable to give me a reasonable explanation. I demanded for the blankets to be changed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Africanisation of Malaysian Healthcare
Letter by Elmina Joseph
I refer to Chris Anthony’s letter “Ensure quality at 1Malaysia clinics” in Malaysiakini and couldn’t agree more.
It appears both the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) Chairman, S. M. Idris and the current DG of Health are clearly consumed by politics rather then ethics. Idris in particular chooses conveniently to sing where the wind blows without an iota of decency nor morality. Whatever happened to his lofty ideals of doctors being properly qualified and trained before they are even allowed to touch patients? Not forgetting the fact that he was one of the prime movers that doctors in this country be leashed by the offensive Private Health Care Facilities Act that govern all clinics.
Perhaps his memory has failed him. Or perhaps he now sees himself championing the cause of the poor even though they only get to see Medical Assistants instead of doctors. Miraculously according to him Medical Assistants who used to help in private and estate clinics are “experienced and qualified” to see patients independently. A far cry from his usual “unqualified, unregistered practitioners”. He backs up his claims now quoting various examples such as nurse practitioners he conveniently has picked from other countries where it appears to be the practice.
Read the rest of this entry »
What a 52nd National Day!
Posted by Kit in Health, MCA, Najib Razak, nation building on Thursday, 27 August 2009
From http://twitter.com/limkitsiang
What a National Day on Monday! Najib’s 1Malaysia gets drubbing in Permatang Pasir. MCA sacks ChuaSoiLek. SamyVellu in MIC. H1N1 – 71 deaths
27th August 2009 07:37 AM
How and why has Malaysia swiftly joined the world’s top eight countries with the highest death toll from A (H1N1) flu pandemic in less than a month?
It is a great relief that there has been no single case of fatality from A (H1N1) flu pandemic in the past 24 hours after a meteoric rise in the past week, totaling cumulative death toll of 67 as of yesterday in a matter four weeks since the first case of fatality.
The question remains however how Malaysia has swiftly joined the world’s top eight countries with the highest death toll from A (H1N1) flu pandemic in less than a month, chalking up a cumulative death toll of 67 after United States (482 fatalities), Argentina (404), Brazil (379), Mexico (163), Australia (118), Chile (112), Thailand (97) and tying with Canada (67) for eighth place?
In a matter of four days, the cumulative death toll in Malaysia had increased by eight fatalities, moving it up from world’s ninth placing with 59 deaths to eighth placing with 67 fatalities, while in other countries the mortality rates have stopped or slowed considerably, like Chile which had registered 105 deaths last weekend, with Thailand remaining static at 97 while Canada had increased by one fatality during this period.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should convene an all-party conference involving all MPs and State Assembly members to launch a national emergency campaign in view of worsening A (H1N1) pandemic
Posted by Kit in Health, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Death toll from the A (H1N1) continues to mount unchecked and relentlessly, adding three more fatalities to a grand total of 67, the latest victims being a 71-year-old man, a 10-year-old girl and a 33-year old woman.
There has been considerable confusion emanating from the Health Ministry, for instance, whether a national health emergency due to the killer pandemic has been declared, as reported by some media, and what it implies.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said a health curfew would only be considered if the mortality rate goes above 0.4 per cent. He said the country’s mortality rate for A(H1N1) flu is currently between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent.
It is clear that the Health Minister has no real notion of what is the current mortality rate for A(H1N1) as the statement that the current mortality rate between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent is quite meaningless. Read the rest of this entry »
Pneumococcal vaccination limits H1N1 death
Dear all,
Not all who gets H1N1 gets pneumonia BUT all who died of H1N1 gets pneumonia.
So, we should focus on how we can prevent pneumonia if we get H1N1…..
not how to prevent H1N1.
For those high risk group, getting pneumococcal vaccination is one of the defense mechanism we could use against dying from H1N1. You might still get H1N1 but at least you have a 30% lower risk of dying from H1N1.
Studies have shown here that 30% of H1N1 pneumonia related deaths are due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. Getting yourself vaccinated means you have eliminated 30% of the possible risk of dying from H1N1 pneumonia.
Read the rest of this entry »
A(H1N1) flu death toll climbs to 62 with daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases – Japan and South Korea confirm their first A(H1N1) death
The A (H1N1) flu death toll in Malaysia has climbed to 62 with another three fatalities with the daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases in the country.
On the international front, South Korea and Japan have confirmed their first A (H1N1) death.
The first South-Korea death is a 56-year-old man who returned from a visit to Thailand while the first Japanese death, a man in his fifties, had apparently not been overseas.
The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic in June, has spread around the world and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organisation estimates.
The virus has killed more than 800 people worldwide since emerging in April.
For the first time, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that A (H1N1) virus could affect five million Malaysians, based on the WHO estimate that that if 20% of Malaysia’s 27.7 million or 5.5 million are at risk and exposed to the virus.
Read the rest of this entry »
Why is A (H1N1) death rate in Malaysia four times the global case fatality rate?
Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai should explain why Malaysia’s A (H1N1) death rate is four times the global case fatality rate.
Malaysia’s death toll from A (H1N1) flu has topped 56 since the first fatality three weeks ago.
Below I have calculated the mortality rates for the following countries, based on reported number of confirmed H1N1 cases, as of 13 August 2009. Some countries like Singapore have ceased to report on total cases, where their current reports are on the number of patients still receiving treatment in hospitals. Some countries have yet to report their most updated total number of cases, hence I have given their numbers as of the date in brackets below. The number of deaths are as of 13 August.
The following are a comparison of Malaysia’s A (H1N1) flu fatality rate with other countries based on confirmed cases and deaths made public yesterday:
Read the rest of this entry »
Liow Tiong Lai, Where are You? Karen Lee looking for you
At 5.10 pm, on my blog this morning re: “Large-scale H1N1 awareness campaign welcome but why so belated – after 33 deaths and some 2,000 cases?” , I received this heart-rending post from a mother, Karen Lee from Kota Kemuning, worried about her five-year-old son in the A (H1N1) flu killer pandemic, which has claimed 38 lives since the first death was reported 26 days ago on July 16 and recorded 2,253 cases since the first H1N1 case less than three months ago on May 15, 2009..
Karen wants to ask the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai four questions about the A (H1N1) flu pandemic and quite desperate for getting an immediate reply as her son’s life is “at stake”.
These four questions are: Read the rest of this entry »
Large-scale H1N1 awareness campaign welcome but why so belated – after 33 deaths and some 2,000 cases?
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday announced that the government will launch a large-scale public awareness campaign on influenza A(H1N1) beginning this week to educate the public on the pandemic in view of the worsening scenario in the country.
This is a welcome though belated initiative and the questions uppermost in everyone’s mind is why this decision was taken so late, after 33 deaths and some 2,000 cases.
Furthermore, why must it take the Prime Minister to intervene personally before such a decision is taken? What then is the use of having a Health Minister?
Would more lives had been saved if the large-scale public awareness campaign had been launched when the first death from the A (H1N1) flu had occurred 25 days ago on July 16?
It is not only the Health Minister who had failed to provide the proper leadership in the campaign against A (H1N1) flu, even the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who headed the inter-ministerial committee on A (H1N1) was guilty of a most flippant and irresponsible attitude with his shocking remark: “Even if I am health minister, I cannot guarantee your safety.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Greatest disappointment of all 18 Najib Cabinet meetings – utter failure to address six urgent national issues from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building
Posted by Kit in Education, Health, Human Rights, Najib Razak, nation building, Police, Teoh Beng Hock on Friday, 7 August 2009
The Cabinet meeting this Wednesday (5th August) is the greatest disappointment of all the 18 Cabinet meetings in the 124 days of Najib premiership because of its utter failure to address at least six urgent national issues ranging from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building.
The Cabinet has irresponsibly skirted grave and urgent national issues including:
-
Cabinet’s failure to heed nation-wide outrage at its refusal to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 16 instead of breaking up the process into two parts – an inquest into the causes of Teoh’s death and a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into MACC interrogation techniques.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said in Pekan on Tuesday that the Commission of Inquiry into the MACC’s interrogation methods would only begin its work after the inquest into Teoh’s death.
It is Najib’s ensuing statement that the RCI “will take into consideration the findings of the inquest” which has given Teoh’s family the false hope that if they are not satisfied with the inquest findings, Najib is prepared to consider their request for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death.
Ministry of Health website latest fatal casualty of the A (H1N1) killer pandemic?
The A (H1N1) flu pandemic toll in Malaysia jumped by four in the past 24 hours from nine to 13.
The latest fatality is six-year-old Mohd Hyafiq Aiman Mohd Saiful Afendi, first death from Pahang, who died at 12.40 pm yesterday after he was admitted to the Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA) Hospital, Kuantan after he developed fever and complained of stomach ache.
The other three latest confirmed A (H1N1) deaths were a three-year-old girl, 12-year-old boy and a 20-year man – all from Malacca.
Since the first case of A (H1N1) flu death two weeks ago on July 23 – a 30-year-old Indonesian – the rate of fatality has increased in pace and numbers, as illustrated by the following table of fatalities:
July 23 – 1 (KL)
July 27 – 1 (Subang Jaya)
Read the rest of this entry »
What a shame, would Muhyiddin be another “Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned” if he had been Health Minister and faced with two killer epidemics, A (H1N1) and dengue?
Posted by Kit in Health, Muhyiddin Yassin on Tuesday, 4 August 2009
What a shame! The MCA Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai has to seek refuge in an UMNO leader to come to his defence in the face of criticism of his playing truant from his ministerial duties when Malaysians are faced with two killer epidemics – A(N1H1) and dengue – to the extent that there are people who liken him to “Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned”!
And what a poor, outrageous and unprofessional defence.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin defended Liow’s Ministerial performance with the declaration: “Even if I am health minister, I cannot guarantee your safety.”
Is this an admission and even confession by Muhyiddin that he would be another “Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned” if he had been Health Minister and similarly faced with two killer epidemics, A (H1N1) and dengue?
Read the rest of this entry »
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Health category.
