It is really appalling that not only did a young mother have to deliver her baby while being trapped inside an elevator for nearly an hour at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), but also how the incident happened even when Dr Jerip Susil, who is the Public Health Assistant Minister, and former state Health Department director Dr Zulkifli Jantan had admitted months before that the lifts were old and breaking down often, but yet nothing was done.

Dr Zulkifli even admitted last March 13 that the lifts at SGH were old and said that the hospitals has received an allocation from the Health Ministry to address this issue, and the repair work for the lifts will be undertaken by the Public Works Department (JKR) this year.

Where did the money go? The public deserve to know where did this allocation go and how was it put to use? Was it used to repair and maintain the lifts as originally allocated, and if so why is there occurrence of such incidents which not only endanger the mother and baby, but also had caused countless incidences of inconvenience to the public?

The recent raid by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Sabah on two government officials who allegedly swindled a reported RM3.3 billion of funds allocated to
the state Water Department, has highlighted the alleged serious misadministration and misappropriation of public funds by government officials.

It is this imperative for the public to know whether such an allocation and other allocations to the Sarawak General Hospital is put to proper use for the good of the people, and not taken away for personal interests just as had allegedly happened in Sabah.

On top of that, the state Health Department director, Dr Jamilah Hashim, was quoted as saying that the lifts in SGH were installed on July 1, 1995 which is 21 years ago. Why didn’t the Sarawak BN government see the need and demand more allocations to replace the lifts even after so long?

If the allocations were not enough, why didn’t we use our state’s representation is Parliament to demand more and what is best for the interests of the people of the state?

Have they neglected their duties to protect the interests of the people and because of that, has caused so much inconvenience as well as affected the standard of medical care in the state?

It is then important that YB Dr Sim Kui Hian as the Local Government Minister which oversees medical affairs in the state to take this seriously and make sure it is addressed properly. He should take proper responsibility and not allow such incidents to happen under his purview.

KELVIN YII is a parliamentary assistant to Stampin MP Julian Tan.