It takes a minimum of three years to obtain licences to operate a dialysis centre for kidney patients, which by then may prove fatal for the latter although the disease is treatable.

Now the Health Ministry has come down hard on these centres, including those run by NGOs and welfare organisations, with a plan to ban new ones.

Dr Afif Bahardin Penang executive councillor on health Dr Afif Bahardin ( left ) said that health services, including these dialysis centres, are fully controlled by Putrajaya, the federal government.

“I see them controlling it even in the next millennium. We should decentralise these processes and empower the states to handle it so that we can have a better distribution of health services to the patients,” Afif said in a press conference.

The Penang government has recently launched a CAT haemodialysis centre in Balik Pulau with the cooperation of B.Braun, a manufacturing company that produces surgical equipment.

A second centre is in the works and will be located in Seberang Jaya.

A report in The Star datelined yesterday quoted Health deputy director-general S Jeyaindran as saying that the ministry would stop issuing new licences for dialysis centres and will close down existing ones that do not meet requirements and endanger patients’ safety.

Afif said Putrajaya’s new ban would make it difficult for the state to develop any new dialysis centres.

“The state had to do it because the federal government failed to provide enough centres for patients. The waiting lists in public hospitals are extremely long,” he said.

Afif said he welcomed the Health Ministry’s intention to act on centres which do not comply with its regulations and continue to operate illegally.

He cited the ministry's national report that states, out of 560 centres run by NGOs and the private sector, only 326 are registered.

The ministry also stated that 234 of these centres have never submitted applications to register and have no trained medical staff.

Against this backdrop, patients with kidney problems are increasing (from 1,204 in 1993 to 26,404 in 2012), showing the federal government’s failure in their ‘healthy lifestyle’ campaign, Afif said.

‘Running down the state government’s efforts?’

Meanwhile, state exco on caring society and welfare Phee Boon Poh pointed out a report in The Star yesterday, which published a photo of the CAT dialysis center in Balik Pulau alongside the report ‘Ministry says no to new dialysis centres’.

guan eng and phee boon poh pc 250209 phee boon poh According to Phee ( left ), the photo was published to “insinuate” that the centre is one of the illegal ones.

“I strongly believe that there is a political motive to run down the state government’s efforts to provide the cheapest possible treatment for needy patients,” he said.

Both Phee and Afif wants the MCA-owned newspaper to apologise over the matter, retract the photo and do a full page story to promote the CAT dialysis centre in Balik Pulau.

“We are extremely offended by the report and only by doing a full page on the CAT centre can appease us,” said Afif.

Currently, patients have to pay a whopping RM120 to RM150 a session in private centres, while NGOs and welfare organisations are charging RM30.

The Penang government’s centre in Balik Pulau has also started an adoption programme for those who want to donate to help poor patients.

“With The Star ’s report, those who want to donate to our programme might refrain from doing so, thinking that the centre is illegal.”