I feel compelled to write this letter in response to Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek indirectly blaming last week two general practitioners for the death of an undergraduate as they were unable to treat the boy as their clinics did not have drips.

I would like to relate a story which occurred when I was an Emergency Medical Officer at a government hospital three years ago. A heart patient had come to the medical specialist clinic for his routine check up. After waiting for sometime to see the specialist in the clinic, this elderly gentleman developed chest pains, shortness of breath, palpitations and sweating. His family members were anxious and informed the staff nurse, who informed the specialists.

Minutes later, I got a call from the specialist saying that there is this patient of theirs who is probably having a heart attack and needs to be attended to by the emergency department since the specialist clinic did not have the necessary equipment nor the medicines to diagnose and treat the patient.

An attendant later brings the patient later at full speed on a wheelchair, gasping for breath - both the patient as well as the attendant. They were not accompanied by any doctor, with no drips, no oxygen mask and nothing else except a wheelchair.

I think therefore, it is better for government hospitals and specialist clinics to be well-equipped before targeting GP clinics. This is like the pot calling the kettle black. It is better to have specialists and specialist clinics that know how to manage emergency patients before getting to the general practitioners across the street to equip themselves with the knowledge, expertise and equipment.

The Ministry of Health has to take steps to educate the public as to the limitations faced by GP clinics. The public has to know where they should go for treatment should they meet with a road accident and have a thigh bone sticking out. Certainly a GP cannot do much with his set-up.

Certainly, it would be a sheer waste of time for a student who has been stabbed and is bleeding profusely to go to a GP clinic for a drip. We all know that a drip - though it may be enough to secure the veins before they collapse - would not stop the bleeding that is occurring and hence is not life-saving.

It will indeed be wise to educate the public to immediately go to a hospital without wasting time in the case of an emergency where they could get their drips, medicines, intubation, splints, defibrillators and what not. Why stop at a GP clinic for partial treatment?

The health ministry officials and the Malaysian Medical Association should further debate the relevance of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 before it is implemented.