Materia Medica Malaysiana

Selayang Hospital needs first aid

Dr Jacob George
1:55pm Thu May 6th, 2004

The Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam Selangor (Cassa) welcomes Health Minister Chua Soi Lek’s statement that his ministry, its agencies and government hospitals will be revamped in line with the objective of providing efficient and quality service to the people.

The minister’s statement is timely and addresses the allegation that there was an obsession in the past in of building expensive hospitals while compromising on the need to channel for primary healthcare, quality treatment and better medicine besides upgrading and maintaining hospital equipment.

Cassa maintains that there is a need to strike a balance between developing infrastructure and capacity building in areas such as manpower, treatment and medical supplies in order to optimise the use of the available resources.

There has been a mismatch of priorities in the past and as a result more expensive hospitals than needed were built, for example the Selayang hospital costing millions of ringgit.

Cassa’s investigations over the weekend at the Selayang hospital revealed extensive construction faults, construction omissions, leakages and equipment badly needing repairs.

The hospital has also been vandalised by thefts of signage and other equipment while its corridors are filled with rubbish and cigarette butts no thanks to irresponsible visitors. The building’ security system is also lax.

Cassa appeals to the health minister to take immediate action against contractors appointed by his ministry to undertake maintenance of the hospital but have failed to do so.

Our investigations have revealed that the main contractors have failed to pay external contractors and as a result, several of the external contractors refuse to continue providing service until they are paid for past services and maintenance.

As a result of all this, the quality of medical service to the patient has been seriously compromised.

To protect public interest, the minister should conduct an immediate review of all contracts awarded to those with a monopoly to protect public interest. Cassa is willing to work closely with the minister by providing him a detailed dossier of its observations.

The writer is Cassa’s president and legal adviser.