Only 1 CT scan machine for 1mil people in mainland Penang, laments senator

 

The World Health Organization recommended that the budget for health should be between 4% and 6% of a nation’s GDP for effective healthcare. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Sounding the alarm on the shortage of nurses and health equipment in the state, a senator from Penang lamented the pressure medical staff faced in providing effective healthcare.

Dr RA Lingeshwaran of DAP said some hospitals did not have the much-needed equipment while some others had the equipment but not enough nurses to operate them.

Citing the case of mainland Penang, the former director of the Sungai Bakap Hospital said there were four public hospitals serving about a million people but only one had a Computed Tomography (CT) scan machine.

As the machine was only available at the Seberang Jaya Hospital, patients from public hospitals in Sungai Bakap, Bukit Mertajam and Kepala Batas had to be transported by ambulance for CT scans in Seberang Jaya.

“The situation is exacerbated when this machine is out of order. When this happens, patients have to be sent to the hospitals in Kulim or Penang island. I was made to understand that about 9,000 patients at the Bukit Mertajam and Sungai Bakap hospitals require this service annually,” he told the Dewan Negara today.

Dr RA Lingeshwaran.

Lingeshwaran said the shortage of nurses had resulted in some of the operation theatres (OTs) in two hospitals not being utilised, resulting in patients waiting for a long time for elective surgeries.

“Because of this shortage, only two of the four OTs in the Kepala Batas hospital can function at any one time while only one of the three OTs in the Bukit Mertajam hospital can be used each time.

“We have enough surgeons and medical officers but not nurses and other para medical staff,” he added.

The senator also pointed out that there were 14 new ICU beds complete with the latest medical equipment at the Kepala Batas hospital but these could not be used because of the shortage of nurses.

Lingeshwaran urged the health minister to resolve these shortages for the sake of the rakyat, adding that nurses and paramedics were the backbone of the nation’s medical system.

He said these problems could be overcome if the budget allocation for the healthcare sector was between 4% and 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) as recommended by the World Health Organization.

“Although the allocation for the sector increased from RM32.4 billion last year to RM36.3 billion this year, it is only 2% of the GDP. A comprehensive and inclusive expenditure for this sector is extremely vital because every sector is a health sector,” he said. - FMT