Kota Kinabalu: Healthcare in Sabah is a sick joke! Take the district hospital in Kota Belud, for instance. Patients sleep on the concrete floor, the wards are hot and poorly ventilated and the atmosphere is chaotic.
This was the sight that met Kota Kinabalu MP and Sabah DAP chairman Dr Hiew King Cheu when he paid a visit to the government's main healthcare centre in the district.
Wards that were designed for four beds and were supposed to be air-conditioned had 12 patients sweltering in the heat.
Hiew and other Sabah DAP leaders who paid a surprise visit to the hospital on Sunday were shocked to see patients being treated on the floor.
He said he could not believe what he was seeing.
He questioned the Health Ministry over its judgement in assigning a 29-year-old doctor to take charge of the hospital.
"How can the ministry appoint such a young doctor with limited experience in administrative work to run a big hospital like this?" he asked.
He said he had brought the issue to the attention of the Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai during the debate on the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) in Parliament recently.
He added that he was dissatisfied with the answer given by Liow who merely said the young doctor is qualified to do his job.
He said the situation at the hospital clearly showed that either the doctor cannot cope or that the government is ignoring its duty to provide healthcare in Sabah.
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