SANDAKAN – Sabah DAP’s acting chairman Datuk Frankie Poon Ming Fung has reiterated his calls for the state to be given authority over health matters.
“The new state government must push to reinstate this decision made within the MA63 Committee so that Sabah could have its own health ministry.
“If I am not mistaken, Sarawak is already pursuing the devolution of health matters to its state. My question to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government is, when is our state going to do it?” he said.
Poon who was Sabah’s former minister of health and people’s wellbeing claimed that the state’s medical facilities today was lacking in so many areas.
For example, Sandakan has only one hospital, and this hospital was built during the British colonisation.
“To date, it still lacks expertise and medical equipment to cater to the people here," he said.
Poon said that after the authority over health matters was surrendered to the federal government, Sabah's population has grown multiple folds, and now stands at 4 million.
He added the situation would have been different if Sabah had its own health ministry.
Poon said when he held the Sabah health minister’s position, he was able to work with the state government to procure millions of ringgit worth of medical aids, especially test kits.
“We also received powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR), and ventilators from various NGOs, in particular the Tamasak Foundation and China’s Consulate in Sabah. The aid helped boost healthcare workers’ morale and uplift their spirits and motivation when the federal government was slow in getting the supplies,” he added.
“From 1963 until 1970, the health ministry in Sabah was under the authority of the state government. Owing to a lack of financial capability, the health ministry was put under federal government after 1970.
“The engagement with a state minister of health means a lot to the healthcare workers in Sabah. Back then, even the decisions to lockdown areas and closing Sabah’s door to risky entries were all made with advice from its health ministry and the Sabah health department to the chief minister, who called the shots,” he said.
He said while the director of Sabah health department serves under the direction of the director-general of the Health Ministry, who is already overseeing the needs to care for all states in Malaysia, a state health minister would serve only to protect the interests of all Sabahans. – The Vibes, October 20, 2020.
