Almost half of state’s government clinics run by assistant medical officers and nurses
Dr Annuar (fourth right) cuts the ribbon to reveal a banner when opening the colloquium, witnessed by Siman (third right), Nordin (second left) and Twin (second right).
KUCHING: Forty-five per cent of 209 clinics in Sarawak are without doctors while most of them are manned by assistant medical officers (AMOs) and nurses.
And one third of the clinics are without continuous electricity supply as they still rely on generator sets and lack clean or treated water supply.
In pointing this out, Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said he would strive to resolve these critical issues before 2021.
“I have been entrusted to look into these shortcomings of all the clinics in Sarawak and we will bring up this matter to the Cabinet.
“Don’t talk about having enough doctors in the country when 45 per cent of our clinics are without doctors. Don’t talk about becoming an advanced nation if we do not have electricity and water supplies to the clinics,” he said in his text of speech read out by Assistant Minister of Housing and Public Health Dr Annuar Rapaee at the opening of the Sarawak Assistant Medical Officers Colloquium at the MBKS auditorium here yesterday.
The colloquium themed ‘Enhancing knowledge and skills’ was organised by Sarawak Assistant Medical Officers Association (Samoa) and
attended by over 200 officers from the public and private healthcare sectors throughout Malaysia.
Taking this matter seriously, he stressed that the state’s healthcare sector should not suffer the same fate as the education sector where 1,020 out of 1,454 schools in the
state were in dilapidated conditions.
“We will be ashamed, more so as doctors, if we are unable to deliver this (good healthcare services) to the people of Sarawak.
“We have taken our oath when becoming doctors that we will treat all patients the same, whether in urban or rural areas. We will make sure that this won’t be happening in the state of Sarawak,” he added.
The main focus of his ministry, he said, is to ensure that both the urban and rural communities have access to the best healthcare services.
Thus, the government provides large allocations for healthcare in its annual budget, he added.
On assistant medical officers, he said it cannot be denied that they have an important role in providing healthcare services to communities in rural and remote areas in the state.
“The advancement in medical field, changes in type of diseases and morbidity as well as society expectations towards the medical field requires the paradigm shift of every AMO.
“MAs (medical assistants) must obtain the best and the highest of medical knowledge and skills for the future market. As such, AMOs must be more innovative, creative, thinking out of the box and competent to ensure they are relevant for the future,” he said.
To achieve the great strides, Dr Sim emphasised the need to uphold high spirit, teamwork, collaboration and mutual understanding.
“This country especially Sarawak still needs AMOs to provide services to rural clinics where many people are still longing for good healthcare services,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that a lot of the facilities in the rural clinics were not up to expectations – not only the equipment but also staff living quarters.
“That’s why we are taking a proactive step, so as not to allow what had happened in rural schools to happen in the field of medicine. Moreover, whatever the number of population is, everyone must be equally treated in this world,” he added.
He hoped that the colloquium would motivate AMOs to organise a symposium or seminar of international level.
“I also hope that this can be made a yearly event from here on in order for us to improve our knowledge. The programme in this event itself is very advanced with specialised topics. I hope we can make it into a bigger forum in the future and continuous medical education is very important,” he pointed out.
State deputy health director (Public Health) Dr Nordin Saleh, state assistant medical officer head Umar Ali Jain, Samoa president Twin Johnson and organising chairman of the colloquium Siman Entol were present.