DAP: No reason to cut healthcare with GST revenue

PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Teo Nie Ching has hit out at the declining budget allocated to government hospitals and clinics for medication, stating it is ironic that the reduction had coincided with the introduction of the GST.

Providing the breakdown of the allocation specific to “pharmacy and supply” under the health ministry, the Kulai MP said since Prime Minister Najib Razak took the helm, the government had initially allocated more funds but has since decreased.

“Between 2010 to 2014, the budget for medicine was increased by at least 10% each year.

“But starting from 2015, the budget for buying medicine was reduced. It is ironic that the implementation of GST also started in April 2015,” Teo said.

She called for Putrajaya to explain the reason the budget allocation for the past three years had reversed the trend, especially with more patients counting on government healthcare due to an increase in the cost of living, which was in turn attributed to the GST.

Teo, who is also DAP assistant national publicity secretary, referred to an FMT report from Oct 25, about how the lack of funds was driving some government hospitals to recycle single-use devices.

At the time, the health ministry responded to the article, stating that disposable medical devices can be safely used up to three times and reusing such equipment would not be unsanitary as it would be cleaned through steam sterilisation and the practice would not involve patients with infectious diseases.

“The swift response by the health ministry is praiseworthy. However, I also notice that the ministry failed to response to the other allegations in the article, such as patients being told to buy medication and have their tests done externally.

“The report had also highlighted how hospitals are not able to repair machinery that had broken down or needed to be serviced due to financial constraints,” she said, questioning the ministry for not responding to the allegations.

“Is it because these allegations are cold hard facts?”

Teo provided two incidents to show what was happening on the ground, affecting her constituents.

“A patient from Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA, Johor Baru) was recently asked to go to Hospital Sultan Ismail (JB) to do a bone scan as the machine in HSA had broken down since 2014.

“What’s worse is that the appointment date he got for the bone scan in HSI is Oct 17, 2018. One year later,” she said.

She added that another feedback she had received was from a woman who was told to take her child’s dental X-rays at a private facility because the government hospital’s X-ray machine had broken down for about three months.

“Also, a patient could not get his calcium supply from the hospital three months ago, even though he has been taking calcium pills from a government hospital for the past nine years.”

On Oct 24, Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam had admitted that some hospitals were facing a shortage of certain medicines in the past but denied it was related to “funding issues”.

“There are periods when some hospitals might not have certain types of medicines due to supply and logistical issues.

“When that happens, we advise hospitals to support each other. The pharmacy, as a central agency, has data of stockpiles everywhere so it has the capacity to move supplies and support each other,” Subramaniam had said.

It was also reported that there had been an increase of 30% in the number of patients using government healthcare due to the general increase in the cost of living. -FMT