IN the past month, Clement Chong has had to make weekly trips to the government hospital in Kota Kinabalu for ointments to treat his skin condition – trips that are a drain on his monthly pension.

Before that, the 50-year old former civil servant needed to make only a trip every month to refill his prescription at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

But lately he and his friends have been told by hospital staff that medicines, especially for high cholesterol and blood pressure, were being rationed as stocks were low.

“We were advised to get our supplies weekly. They always said there was no stock,” Chong told The Malaysian Insight.

“This is troublesome for middle-aged people like me who have to drive to the hospital to pick up our medicine, as there is barely any parking space available at the hospital.”

Many government hospital patients all over Malaysia are reported to be suffering the same problem.

Patients and their families said they were having trouble getting their usual supply of drugs for themselves, their children or their elderly parents.

“Not enough stock” and “patients are encouraged to buy their own” were some of the replies patients have received when they asked for a bigger supply of drugs or medical supplies for cleaning and dressing wounds.

These experiences are fuelling fears that the Health Ministry has got less money to spend on drugs for the clinics and hospitals because its funds have been cut by a cash-strapped government.

Tutor Azila Ismail said she had to buy the medicine that her son needed last year when he was admitted to the children’s ward of the Selayang Hospital after he was scalded in a home accident.

“There was a medicine for scalds but the hospital told me there was no stock. I had to buy it myself from a private pharmacy and it was quite expensive,” said the 39-year-old.

Deputy director-general of the Health Ministry Dr Jeyaindran Sinnadurai admitted that government hospitals were facing these problems but stressed that they were not caused by budget cuts.

In fact, the ministry had received an extra RM2 billion in the 2017 national budget, bringing the total it received to RM24 billion. 

The problem, said Dr Jeyaindran, was that there was a 20% increase in the number of patients going to government hospitals for treatment this year, compounded by difficulties with the drug distributors.

The problem is expected to clear up in the next two to three weeks, after which the patients can expect to receive their usual month’s supply of drugs each visit.

The news will be a relief to people like Yapp Ling Yong of Kota Kinabalu, who picks up the medicine for her 80-year-old father, Yapp Chong Lim.

The elder Yapp suffers from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, prostate enlargement, a lung problem and depression. 

“We were told that there weren’t enough medicines at the hospital. They usually give us a 30-day supply but now it’s only enough for 10 or 15 days.”

Others such as single mother Hairani Halim, 57, hopes that government hospitals will consider providing supplies such as wound dressings for low-income patients like her.

Hairani has been getting treatment for diabetes at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for the past year.

She has had two of her toes removed and goes to the hospital regularly for check-ups and to have her wounds dressed.

“I used to get extra dressing. But this year, the nurse told me that the we were encouraged to buy these ourselves. So I have had to buy them from a private pharmacy,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“I don’t have an income and I depend on my children for money.” – August 14, 2017.