Here when we are seeing the government of the day reeling from the blows that it had suffered after the last general election and trying to muster some legislation which it had promised, we get this news that the Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) almost got privatised.

I had already envisaged a situation in the future of many ordinary Malaysians begging doctors to operate on their loved ones first whilst they try to obtain the hospital fees like what we see in the Tamil and Hindi movies. Little did I realise that it is going to become a reality.

I was proud to note that we still had a relatively good healthcare system in the country but after being very concerned with other mega-projects during the nineties, the government has paid very little attention to the healthcare system of the country.

The government fails to realise that it is health that can bring in wealth. It is of no use if we have all the money on earth with no accompanying good health to enjoy that money that we have.

The government seemed to be very cool about this IJN buyout but ‘in principle’ it says that Sime Darby must help the poor. What principle will every multinational have before it? Profits, of course!

Who cares about those who can't afford health care at a privatised IJN, they can perhaps just be happy with visits to the bomoh, sinseh and samis to cure themselves of their cardiac ailments.

It is the duty of every responsible elected government to ensure that its people get healthcare that is nationalised. Cuba may be one of the last bastions of communism but it has one of the best nationalised healthcare systems that will put most capitalist countries to shame.

We were doing well and going on the right direction until we become a nation overcome with mega projects that brought very little benefit to the people. The many stadiums built around the peninsular just to show who could be the better host for the Sukma games is a classic example of wastage of public funds which could have been easily invested in healthcare.

Our lawmakers were not bothered to address healthcare development in the country and assist the top healthcare civil servants who have been working tirelessly to bring forth better subsidised health care for the benefit of the people.

Our lawmakers rarely trust the ability of our own healthcare expertise as most quietly fly overseas to get treated and come back trying to be champions of the poor by saying that we should trust our health care system.

The IJN should be and remain a cardiac healthcare specialist centre that is a nationalised institution which the government will run in giving its patients subsidised specialist health care.

If this is taken away in the name of development or because of the inability of the government to run this centre, then that is the first step towards privatising every hospital in the country. The vast majority will not be able to afford the cost of health care and the medicines that follow and we will see many who may just die off before their time.

I dread to think that if this does not move the people to make the government listen to them by replying through the ballot boxes, then nothing else will.

The government needs to be shown that privatisation is not the answer, nationalisation with transparent governance is. We must go in the direction of some countries which have seen massive political catastrophes happen when the government loses a sense of direction and gives in to the demands of the private sector.

We elect a government to take care of us and not to do a ‘Dracula’ on us. A message must be sent by all those out there who have cardiac ailments that IJN's privatisation will not be tolerated and what better way then to spread the message at the coming by-election.