Sarawak PKR Women's wing leader Agnes Padan is sounding the alarm that the health system in her state is at a breaking point.
Even as she spoke to Malaysiakini, her brother was coughing up blood due to a pulmonary hemorrhage and suspected tuberculosis yet he could not be admitted to the Miri hospital due to its treatment of Covid-19 cases.
Agnes got her start as a healthcare activist before joining PKR. She took over as the party's state women chief last year.
She said that when Sarawak State Health Department Director Dr Chin Zih Hing announced that all face-to-face specialist clinic services at Miri Hospital were delayed for five days from Jan 25 to 29, it was understandable but yet had a knock-on effect.
This came after 20 of its healthcare workers tested positive for Covid-19 and the hospital had to quarantine almost 200 other close contact staff.
"I sympathise with the issues faced by the frontline of doctors and nurses and pray that they all recover and recover quickly.
"This news is like a nightmare for chronic patients in Lawas who need specialist services at Miri Hospital, despite the hospital working hard to reschedule appointments and ensure that the supply of medicine is adequate and continuous.
"However, the main problems faced by Lawas chronic patients who are in dire need of health services include having to deal with pain, high transportation costs and limited mobility due to restrictions only to get medicine or treatment," said Agnes.
Thus far, Sarawak has suffered 28 deaths out of 3,379 positive cases in the state.
Currently, Sibu is treating the highest number of cases, in part due to the Pasai Siong cluster, with Miri registering the second highest.
A total of 1,647 patients are still being treated at hospitals statewide.
A problem that is particularly acute in Sarawak is the vast distances required to travel to the nearest hospitals. Lawas is a town of 40,000 in the Limbang division which borders Sabah and Brunei. It is 190km from Kota Kinabalu and 230km from Miri.
"By land, it takes 5-6 hours travel time at a cost of RM75 per person one way. By flight it's 45 minutes at RM135 per person," said Agnes.
Last year, it was reported that as many as 43.6 percent of the total 625,400 households in Sarawak still earn below RM4,000 a month, with 10.7 percent earning less than RM2,000, according to the Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report by State and Administrative District, Sarawak 2019.
Many desperate cases
Agnes became a healthcare activist following the death of her mother Kam Agong in 2002 in the Lun Bawang village in Long Semadoh. Kam died shortly after she gave birth to her eighth son, Jordan.
Agnes said keeping up the battle is important as there have been so many similar cases.
Her brother Sam visited the Miri Hospital on Jan 18 as he was coughing up significant amounts of blood. He was discharged without tuberculosis (TB) medicine and was asked to come back in two weeks for his results.
Miri MP Dr Micheal Teo who runs a private clinic managed to start him on some TB medicine while he gets further tests done, but he is still coughing up blood.
"A 47-year-old cancer patient I know had his follow-up treatment delayed four times throughout the movement control order. It is difficult to get necessities such as stoma bags, bladder installers and wound bandages," Agnes said.
"He needs to undergo regular blood tests and also needs other treatment accessories," she added.
She also shared how a 30-year-old male patient with kidney failure was waiting for a follow-up echocardiogram and kidney biopsy for two months and was just rushed to Miri Hospital a few days ago in critical condition.
Another kidney patient, she said, was unable to undergo dialysis because the existing dialysis center had no vacancies. He also contacted and made an appointment with the Spitang Hospital but was unsuccessful as there were no vacancies in the near future, Agnes said.
"What is the fate of these patients? How long do they have to wait for treatment?" she asked.
She called on the Sarawak state government and the federal government to immediately complete works to upgrade the Lawas Hospital which was expected to be completed by August 2023.
It does not currently have the required equipment and specialists which is why residents with serious ailments have to travel to further hospitals to seek specialist help.
"We need this so that the residents of this district can obtain complete, local health services and reduce high expenses that burden patients.
"A trip to the nearest complete hospital is very necessary without having to go through several borders between Sarawak and Brunei before reaching Miri hospital or the hospital in Sabah," she said.
She emphasised that her goal was not to politicise health issues during the Covid-19 pandemic but the fact that the rights of Lawas residents to obtain the best health system have long been ignored.
"Older residents have been waiting 25 years for a new hospital. They can't wait any longer," she said. - Mkini
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