Pantai Remis assemblyman Wong May Ing said that there weren't enough dialysis machines in the Manjung area. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Peter Nunis, July 24, 2015.The Health Ministry has a RM45 million budget for enhancing the national haemodialysis programme, but of this the Manjung district, Perak, will only get three new dialysis machines.

“Two machines will go to Hospital Seri Manjung and one to the health clinic in Pangkor,” said Pantai Remis assemblyman Wong May Ing who said she received the information in a written reply to a question she raised in a recent Perak Assembly meeting in Ipoh.

“These are replacing old dialysis machines at the two centres when, in actual fact, we need more in the district,” she added.

Wong said the number of people suffering from kidney disease here had increased and many of them could not afford dialysis or did not have access to treatment.

However, Wong welcomed the plans by the Perak government to build a dialysis centre in Pantai Remis with four dialysis treatment machines.

Currently, there are seven dialysis centres (excluding the Armed Forces Hospital Lumut) in Manjung, of which three are government-run and four operated by non-government organisations (NGOs). There are 369 registered patients in the area.

Meanwhile, retired teacher Sathya Nandham Siealingam, 63, of Ayer Tawar, who was diagnosed with 30% kidney function in March, felt thankful that he did not have to pay for the treatment.

“Dialysis normally costs between RM250 and RM280 a session, and a patient needs three four-hour sessions a week, so can you imagine if I was not a retired government servant, I have to pay more than RM3,000 a month, which is a tremendous burden for anyone,” he said.

“As a kidney patient I feel that the government has a moral obligation to help those who cannot afford to pay for treatment.” – July 24, 2015.

...