The government today said public hospitals in Sabah will not turn away undocumented immigrants based on humanitarian grounds.

Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Lee Kah Choon (BN-Jelutong) said it is the policy of health care professionals to render care to all who sought it.

"We treat patients, irregardless if they're illegal immigrants or not. This is a humanitarian question of treating those who come to hospitals," he told the Dewan Rakyat.

Lee was responding to a question from Donald Peter Mojuntin (BN-Penampang) during the question and answer session.

He said in 2004, 78,172 undocumented immigrants had sought treatment in Sabah's public hospitals with 77,114 for the year 2005.

In a supplementary question, Donald asked if the Health Ministry would work with the Home Ministry to identify how many of the 30 percent of immigrant patients were without valid travel documents.

Lee replied that there was a working committee with the Home Ministry to report cases of immigrant patients with forged working permits and those without it.

To another supplementary question, Lee explained that documented immigrants in Sabah were also included in the same immunisation programmes such as typhoid injections as local Malaysians.

However, he reiterated that undocumented immigrants were harder to track and as a result made immunising them against spreadable diseases more difficult to carry out.

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