KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — The Sarawak state government may finance the construction of a Sarawak Cancer Centre with RM1 billion, while the federal Ministry of Health (MOH) may manage human resources, said Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
Lukanisman said the MOH, the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the Sarawak state government are still in discussions concerning the cancer centre, but held that construction of the facility could potentially be fully funded by the state government but operated by the MOH.
“On the cancer centre, the Sarawak state government, MOH, and MOF are still in an ongoing discussion. Sarawak Premier [Abang Johari Openg] requested to expedite the process.
“Basically, Sarawak proposed to Prime Minister [Anwar Ibrahim] our wish to have a state-of-the-art cancer centre. The concept may be similar to the current Sarawak Heart Centre. Sarawak will come out with a source of funds, operational by the MOH,” Lukanisman told CodeBlue last Friday.
The Sibuti MP from Sarawak added that the matter would be discussed this week in detail at the Malaysia Agreement 1963 meeting in the state capital of Kuching.
Last Thursday, Sarawak Deputy Premier Dr Sim Kui Hian and Sarawak Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Michael Tiang Ming Tee paid a visit to Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad at MOH headquarters in Putrajaya to discuss, amongst other things, the funding method for the Sarawak Cancer Centre.
Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman, Health director-general Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, and MOH finance deputy secretary-general Norazman Ayob were also present at the meeting.
In a picture of the meeting posted by MOH on its X account, Dzulkefly was pictured holding a document with its contents listed as, “centralisation, negative effects of centralisation, empowering the state director of health to perform statutory functions, transfer of certain executive functions to the state”.
According to an X post by Lukanisman, the Sarawak state government is prepared to provide a total of RM1 billion for funding the cancer centre. This marks a notable 25 per cent increase from the RM800 million that Abang Johari was proposing to spend for the construction of the building in January last year.
Based on last year’s Bernama report, the Sarawak premier stated that the state government would fund the cost of the construction of the building, while the federal government provides medical specialists and equipment.
The Sarawak Heart Centre referenced by Lukanisman started as the Department of Cardiology of Sarawak General Hospital in 2001. It was set up by Dr Sim and Dr Ong Tiong Kiam.
In January 2011, due to space constraints and the overwhelming need for service expansion, the department moved to Kota Samarahan, where it is still located, and was re-named the Sarawak General Hospital Heart Centre. In 2015, the hospital was given the name Sarawak Heart Centre and full administrative autonomy.
Apart from the funding of the Sarawak Cancer Centre, Dr Sim also discussed the offering of “perks” to specialists serving in Sarawak to retain them.
Lukanisman told CodeBlue that he was not at liberty to reveal the perks that may be offered to specialists: “Let the state propose it in the MA63 committee regarding health autonomy.”
Dr Sim told reporters in Kuching last Sunday that a meeting between the MOH and the Sarawak Public Health, Housing and Local Government Ministry to further discuss the state’s request for health autonomy would be held this week.
Dr Sim, who is also the Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, reportedly said that the discussion process is complicated, making it difficult to proceed through the phases prior to presenting the outcome of the discussion to both Prime Minister Anwar and Sarawak Premier Abang Johari.
“It also involves 43 laws and I have stated in a letter sent to the (Health) Minister recently that after 60 years (of Malaysia’s establishment) have passed, the existing health system is no longer working well,” Dr Sim was quoted saying, according to a Malay Mail report.
Other topics discussed by Dr Sim and Dzulkefly at their January 4 meeting included the direction of the discussion for Sarawak’s health autonomy based on the MA63, the sharing of information about the Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre, the imposition of a sales and service tax (SST) on traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) that is set to take effect in March, and nation-building matters and research and development.
Dr Sim also requested that medical and health policy experts from Sarawak be involved in the technical working group of the Health White Paper — a 59-page document that sets out various reforms across a 15-year period.
