PETALING JAYA: The health ministry has defended the government’s spending for the treatment of cancer, saying some RM400 million a year is allocated for this purpose.
The response from the ministry comes in the wake of criticism from Kampar MP Dr Ko Chun Sen, who said the government needed to invest more, especially for equipment used in the fight against cancer.
“The country lacks sufficient linear accelerator machines used for radiotherapy. Such machines are essential,” Ko said in a statement yesterday.
According to Ko, for Malaysia’s population size, the country needs 184 more of these machines, because there should be eight such machines for every one million people. “This would mean the country needs 240 linear accelerator machines for its 30 million people, but the public health sector only has 18, while the private sector has 38.” In response, the health ministry told FMT that despite the rising cost of drugs, the treatment for cancer was still heavily subsidised.
“The government has also spent RM1.04 billion to establish and upgrade regional cancer centres. “The government also spends a lot of money to attract and retain talent in the public health sector, such as cancer specialists.”
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) also came to the defence of the government, saying the health ministry was already doing its best and that it had many other diseases to manage. Speaking to FMT, MMA president Dr Ravindran R Naidu said the ministry sometimes uses the facilities at private hospitals for patients requiring radiotherapy and that basic chemotherapy is also given for free at government hospitals, though the waiting list to see an oncologist might be long.