YB DOMINQUE NG: 1Malaysia Clinic team should be led by a qualified Doctor.

YB DOMINQUE NG:  1Malaysia Clinic team should be led by a qualified Doctor.

14^th Jan, 2010.

YB Dominique Ng, the ADUN for Padungan, has called on the Ministry of Health to post one Medical Officer to the 1Malaysia Clinic at Matang to provide reasonable professional service to the public. In this day and age it is not too much for the public to expect such a level of professional service, especially in the capital city of the state.

Though the new service outlet is to cater for minor ailments, it is certainly not uncommon for serious illness to present with common symptoms. Thus a qualified doctor (Pegawai Perubatan) should be able to provide more reliable diagnosis.

Further, he is of the opinion that for the clinic at Matang to depend on ambulance from Polyclinic at Mosque Road or Sarawak General Hospital is something less than satisfactory.

He made these observations after a visit to the said clinic yesterday. He was accompanied by En. Wong Huang Yu, Dr. Francis Ngu and En. Hung Sung Huo of Parti Keadilan Rakyat in Sarawak .  He had a brief conversation with the staff on duty.

The clinic is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and staffed initially by 3-4 persons. Patients are attended to by paramedical staff (Penolong Pegawai Perubatan) much as at remote rural clinics. Simple drugs for simple ailments are dispensed; certain minor surgery are also possible. In the first week of operation, the work load has already increased to around 100 patients per day, reflecting very high public demand for medical care which has existed for a long time at PetraJaya/Matang.

There is every possibility that the work load would increase greatly in the next few weeks, in which case there may be need for a couple more staff. There is likely to be much congestion, especially at night, at this clinic operating in a tight shop house setting.

Since 2006, YB Dominique Ng has in and out of the Dewan Undangan Negeri, Sarawak, repeated called for the provision of at least 3 specialist general hospitals and 3 large polyclinics in greater Kuching, to meet the fast worsening bottlenecks and congestion at existing medical facilities for a fast growing city population.

“ The single 1Malaysia Clinic is but a poor band-aid to a large service shortfall problem that is festering in Kuching and elsewhere in the State. I am now supported in my assessment of the widening needs-provision gap by Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, Second Finance Minister and Environment and Public Health Minister, who has belatedly put forth  a proposal to build 4 large polyclinics in greater Sibu under the 10MP.”

“Datuk Seri Wong and local wakil rakyat of Barisan National had better work on a PetraJaya-Matang Polyclinic and new general hospital as well,” advises Ng.