Materia Medica Malaysiana

Chua: RM2.6m given to needy

UALA LUMPUR: The National Health Welfare Fund has given out RM2.6mil to 76 patients since its inception at the end of 2002.

The fund, which started off with RM5.5mil followed by a RM500,000 dividend, is now down to RM3.4mil.

Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said the ministry must handle the limited amount of money “very properly and professionally” for the benefit of deserving patients.

“There were cases of people who sought treatment in private hospitals and they sent their bills to the ministry to settle from the fund, including one bill amounting to RM100,000.

“We (ministry) cannot simply relax the criteria as this will set a precedent.

“Duly completed applications will be processed within 10 days,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Asked to comment on the case of Saffiyah Khadijah Iskandar, two, who needed another RM65,000 to undergo a liver transplant at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC), Dr Chua said the operation could be done at the Selayang Hospital at a lower cost.

At the Selayang Hospital the patient need only pay RM500 because the government subsidises healthcare compared with RM380,000 in SJMC, he said.

He said Saffiyah had been treated at the Kuala Lumpur Paediatric Hospital since September 2002.

The transplant was delayed because Saffiyah’s mother, Nurulhaida Rabu, who was to donate her liver, was found to be pregnant in March last year.

She gave birth in October and was fit to donate her liver beginning March, Dr Chua explained.

As such, he said, claims that the Selayang Hospital did not have the expertise, equipment and facilities for the transplant were baseless.

He said the Selayang Hospital’s liver transplant team had also obtained help from Prof Dr Rusell Strong, who pioneered liver transplants in Australia 15 years ago.

He said the Selayang Hospital could do 12 liver transplants a year now and this would be doubled next year.

Dr Chua also said the Cabinet had agreed to the Health Ministry’s proposal to allow the media to publicise appeals by needy patients and collect funds for them without having to obtain prior approval from the ministry, effective yesterday.

He said the patients must produce their doctors’ confirmation of their illnesses, the type of treatment needed and cost.

The media must get the patients’ approval to raise funds on their behalf, he said.

The money must be placed in a special account set up for the purpose and any excess money upon the patient’s recovery or demise would be passed on to the next deserving patient, he added.

“The fund must be audited by certified auditors, including a representative from the ministry,” said Dr Chua.