Health Minister sets the record straight: RM15,000 was set aside for op

Malay Mail: Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek is puzzled why the Ministry’s approval to subsidise the cost of the heart surgery of a taxi driver’s son was not conveyed to the cabbie.
The Ministry’s Finance Division had approved RM15,000 for the cost of the heart operation for S. Maniam’s 18-month-old son on Jan 19.
The operation, costing RM18,000, is scheduled to take place on March 28 at Institut Jantung Negara (IJN).
The Maniam family has to top up the remaining RM3,000 for the operation, as far as the Ministry is concerned.
Asked why news of the approval was not conveyed to the patient’s family, Dr Chua said he did not know.
"That one (the approval to subsidise the operation’s costs), I don’t know. But the money is there," said Dr Chua yesterday.
He was responding to a front-page story in The Malay Mail yesterday that Maniam was denied aid by the Ministry in Putrajaya when he approached them on Jan 18.
Maniam said the officer who attended to him said he should seek help from other sources as the Ministry’s fund was meant only for "poor people".
Maniam went to the Ministry after reading in Malay and Tamil dailies that the Ministry’s health fund has some RM18 million meant for critical illnesses still unutilised.
The Puchong resident was quoted as saying: "While the officer concurred with what the Minister said, he insisted that I look for help from other sources."
However, the officer did not tell him where to seek help but maintained he was at the wrong place.
Maniam told the officer that he had spent more than RM110 at Putrajaya Hospital and about RM400 at IJN for his son’s X-rays and check-ups.
The officer rudely questioned his plan to take his son to IJN instead of a Government hospital.
Maniam explained that it was the choice of the doctors at Putrajaya Hospital.
Meanwhile, Dr Chua said the problem of insufficient funds to meet the medical bill should be resolved within the hospital itself.
"(Such matters should) always start from where the (patients) came from. Patients should always go back to hospitals. There, social workers, officers and staff are available and patients should ask them for help instead.
"Hospitals should not send patients running around in circles," he said.
He also said the Ministry is not the place for patients to seek financial aid, as it will not know the nature of the case.
Dr Chua said there could have been a "breakdown in communication" as there were not many non-Malays who were conversant in Bahasa Malaysia.
"You people should get both sides of the story. You just listened to one side of the story which is not true," he said.
When contacted, Maniam reiterated that during his visit to IJN on Jan 16, the staff did not inform him that his son’s operation was going to be subsidised.
"They did not tell me that I will receive help, except to ask for my Employees Provident Fund’s savings statement," he said.
The Ministry has allocated RM205 million for medical treatment for Government staff, Government retirees and to subsidise the expenses of poor patients at IJN.