Materia Medica Malaysiana

Appeal for resident doctor in Bakun

MIRI: The Bakun region, where a measles outbreak recently killed 14 Penans, should have a resident doctor as the population has doubled in recent years, said Ulu Rejang MP Billy Abit Joo.
He said the region had some 20,000 people living in and around the RM6bil hydroelectric dam and the nearest doctor was stationed hundreds of kilometres away in Bintulu and Kapit.
“Initially, there were about 10,000 people living in 15 longhouses in the areas affected by the dam project.
“After they were relocated to the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme (in 1998), their population increased to about 15,000.
“Add the number of migrant workers who have entered Bakun to work at the dam, oil palm plantations and the timber sector, the total population is now at least 20,000.
“Not a single doctor is stationed in the Sungai Asap clinic, only medical assistants. The nearest doctor is several hundreds of kilometres away,” he said.
Abit said he had proposed to the Health Ministry that the Sungai Asap clinic be upgraded to a hospital to meet the growing needs of the people in Bakun.