KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — Tangga Batu MP Bakri Jamaluddin has highlighted the death of a doctor from Sungai Udang Klinik Kesihatan amid the lack of an ambulance at her clinic.
The Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmaker said the female doctor’s coworkers had brought her to Melaka Hospital using their personal transport. Three days later, the doctor died at age 41.
“Imagine if this happened to your family, YB Minister,” Bakri told Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad during the latter’s winding-up speech on the debate on the motion of thanks on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat last Monday.
“So I want an answer – will there be a new vehicle for Sungai Udang or not?”
Dzulkefly replied that the Ministry of Health (MOH) was currently facing problems with ambulance tenders that has forced the ministry to issue new tenders.
“No need to talk about whose child has died. Each life is important,” he told parliamentarians.
“In response to the issue raised, I give a firm assurance that the previously delayed ambulance procurement issue will be resolved comprehensively without compromise. We will ensure that distribution is carried out fairly according to the needs of each locality to guarantee equitable access to health care for every citizen.”
After his intervention in Parliament, Bakri told reporters that he didn’t intend to offend Dzulkefly, but that he had meant to arouse sympathy by asking how people would feel if it happened to their family.
“How would the community in Sungai Udang feel, when the doctor who has been providing them with good treatment suddenly died? That’s what I saw when I attended her burial. She had friends who were grieved at what happened.”
In June 2025, an ambulance was involved in an accident in Tangga Batu, Melaka.
Dzulkefly previously told Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran in a written Dewan Negara reply last November that the MOH has obtained special approval from the Ministry of Finance to procure 91 Type B ambulances outside its existing supply contract.
A total of 1,773 government ambulances, comprising nearly 90 per cent of the MOH’s 1,975 vehicles, are more than six years old. The health minister acknowledged contractor delays that disrupted delivery schedules and led to termination of the previous contract.
