This is truly shocking.
A medical practitioner has criticised newly formed 1Malaysia clinics set up by the Ministry of Health for providing poor quality of medical services to patients, which include wrong prescription of medicines and wrong diagnoses.
Dr T Jayabalan, who represents workers and the Malaysian Trade Union Council, claimed that a recent study he conducted in Kampar, Perak revealed that medical assistants in government clinics have been issuing wrong prescriptions to patients.
He cautioned that the clinics, brainchild of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (right) which aimed to provide access to healthcare for all Malaysians nationwide, may also be affected by these malpractices as all of them are manned by medical assistants and nurses.
“This seems to be common practice among medical assistants. They are giving out prescriptions for the wrong medicines, or prescribing medicines which they are not allowed to prescribe. They have also been found to have wrongfully diagnosed patients,” said Jayabalan, who is also health adviser to the Consumers Association of Penang.
Jayabalan also said he was appalled that the 44 clinics, launched in January, targeting the urban poor, and charging merely RM1 for its facilities, were not set up in a transparent manner as doctors were caught unawares by the project.
His statement is supported by Malaysian Medical Association president (2009-2011) Dr David KL Quek in January who said that “while the MMA supports better, affordable and more accessible healthcare facilities to the public, the manner in which this has been announced, where they are to be sited, as well as the fact that these clinics were to be manned by medical assistants and nurses, took many doctors by surprise”.
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This is too much. Now Najib is gambling on his political future with our lives.
Could he be so incredibly desperate to hold on to his increasingly tenuous grasp on power, that he is willing to do a half past six rush job with fancily named medical facilities – facilities in whose hands people put their lives and well being – in some blind attempt to score political points?
Why aren’t there proper doctors at these clinics?
Aren’t there reasons why certain diagnoses and prescriptions can only be made by fully trained doctors, and not medical assistants?
We have already had children die at 1Malaysia camps. Will more Malaysians perish at 1Malaysia clinics?
PM Najib – if you want to do something, do it from your heart (jika ada, lah) and do it right.
If you’re trying to get stuff done cheap just so you can look sparkly – know who you answer to in the end.
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