KOTA KINABALU: The state Health Department realizes the need for a health clinic in Sepanggar and is looking for a suitable site to build the medical facility, its director, Dr Mohd Yusof Ibrahim, said.
The location must have easy accessibility by the public, especially expectant mothers and those who rely on public transportation, he added.
Dr Yusof told reporters this at the state-level forum on improving the country’s health system which was organised at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) by the Health Ministry yesterday.
“We are looking for a suitable site for a health clinic in Sepanggar and we are looking at the type of facility to be built because there is already the naval hospital in Sepanggar. This study will be looking at the overall picture like if we can use the military facility.
“It will be good if we can share resources with the military; then we need only to construct a health clinic similar to the one in Luyang where we just screen cases, then refer them to the general hospitals.”
He said this when asked to elaborate on his reply to a participant in the question-and-answer session during the forum.
Dr Yusof also disclosed that Lahad Datu Hospital would be used for training of doctors next year.
“Houseman training in Lahad Datu and Keningau hospitals will hopefully start by next year, we are in the preparation stage now,” he said.
According to Dr Yusof, the Health Department is also proposing a ‘1Sekolah 1Klinik’ (1School 1Clinic) concept in the state.
This is the department’s cooperation with the Education Ministry, he said, adding that both have had several meetings and the idea had been tabled to the Health Minister who is in favour of the proposal.
“We now have to furnish details on which clinics/schools we should focus on. Initially we said we needed about 800 clinics because there are about 800 schools in Sabah but it is almost impossible to cater for all so we see where the largest population is and we concentrate there.
“We have screened and now it is about 100 schools, so we will be doing it phase by phase. We need to see what facilities the schools have and it is good to share resources like land,” he said.
During the question-and-answer session, Dr Yusof was asked by Sabah Youth Council chairman Kevin Lim on the fate of nurses who graduated from private nursing schools as many claimed not to have found work.
According to Dr Yusof, government hospitals and medical facilities give priority to graduates from government nurses’ training college as there are four such facilities in Sabah.
“We encourage those who graduated from private nursing colleges to seek employment in private medical facilities, if not in Sabah then in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.