New clinic gives rural folk faster access to medical services

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RM10-million Nanga Tada Health Clinic.

RM10-million Nanga Tada Health Clinic.

KANOWIT: The establishment of a health clinic in Nanga Tada Resettlement Scheme has provided some 3,000 residents here with better access to healthcare services.

The construction of the Type 6, RM10-million facility commenced in 2012 and was completed in June last year. It was officially opened in December.

According to councillor Bunut Kubu of Kanowit District Council (KDC), the clinic has helped local folk tremendously as it saves them the time and cost.

“Previously, we had to seek medical services – even the basic ones – at Kanowit Hospital in town,” she told The Borneo Post yesterday.

“Now with the new clinic, it’s easier. For emergency cases, the clinic is able to despatch ambulance right to the five-footways of any of the 16 longhouses here.”

Bunut’s colleague Councillor Chua Sabai concurred, seeing the setup of the clinic as ‘timely’ for rural resettlement schemes like Nanga Tada.

“Kanowit Hospital is about an hour’s drive from Nanga Tada, which is quite a distance. With the new clinic, it attends to the needs of the residents here, especially when they concern emergency cases that require immediate attention.

“Moreover, it (Nanga Tada Clinic) is able to help lessen the burden of Kanowit Hospital.

“As a member of the hospital’s board of visitors, I know that there are many outstation patients coming to Kanowit Hospital on a daily basis, including those from Nanga Tada,” she said.

According to local community leader Penghulu Ugap Seribu, those coming to the clinic include longhouse villagers from Mapai, Kabah and areas along the Nibong-Tada Road.

“The facility, which is so close to our homes, has brought us many benefits. “

However, Ugap thought that the clinic still lacked medical personnel to attend to a large number of patients.

The health clinic project was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he visited Nanga Tada in February 2010.

For the record, the resettlement scheme was formed in December 1972 under the Rajang Area Security Command (Rascom), following the rise of communist threat against the longhouse folk across the Rajang Basin.