Fr Sim said 10 out of these patients are receiving treatment at Yayasan Amal Maaedicare followed by five at MRCS Dialysis Centre Miri, four at Sibu Kidney Foundation and one at Yayasan St John Ambulance Malaysia. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (Feb 23): The Sarawak Turf and Equestrian Club (STEC) Kidney Foundation is presently providing financial assistance to 20 needy kidney patients across the state, said its president Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.
The Deputy Premier said 10 out of these patients are receiving treatment at Yayasan Amal Maaedicare followed by five at MRCS Dialysis Centre Miri, four at Sibu Kidney Foundation and one at Yayasan St John Ambulance Malaysia.
“Messrs Natural Avenue Sdn Bhd (Natural Avenue) is one of the main sponsors of the Foundation since its inception on Jan 20, 1998,” he said.
“Despite a difficult business environment presently caused by competition from illegal operators, Covid-19 stoppage and the aftermath of the economic downturn, Natural Avenue has continued to give us its support.
“During this period, the STEC Kidney Foundation has not received donations from its other sponsors which we hope soon will be forthcoming,” said Dr Sim, also the Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, in a statement.
This statement was issued following a cheque presentation by Natural Avenue to the Foundation. However, the amount of donation was not disclosed.
According to Dr Sim, STEC Kidney Foundation utilised the donations received to provide financial assistance to needy kidney patients all over Sarawak who were unable to pay for their dialysis treatment.
The Sarawak General Hospital, he said, had limited places for dialysis patients then and treatments made available at private hospitals were beyond the means of most patients.
“The Foundation’s multi-racial beneficiaries are low-income earners with a few living on social welfare assistance, of which some of them have been receiving financial assistance from the Foundation for more than 18 years.
“We had sponsored a patient in 1999 when he was just a 17-year-old student. Today, he is a ‘healthy’ young man working part-time and is still undergoing dialysis three times a week assisted by us.
“There has been a huge drop from the 60 sponsored patients at one stage, and this is not due to a decrease of needy patients but rather to an increase in dialysis centres in various government hospitals and polyclinics in Sarawak.
These facilities, he said, have expanded their hemodialysis treatment to cater for the increasing patients needing treatment.
Dr Sim pointed out that the Ministry of Health had also correspondingly increased its subsidy per dialysis from RM50 to RM100.
“Charitable dialysis centres like CHKMUS MAA Medicare Kidney Charity Dialysis Centre (now known as Yayasan Amal Maaedicare), NKF-KAS-Rotary Centre and Miri Red Crescent have also expanded their dialysis centres but they still have long waiting lists.
“It is very disheartening to note the increase in the number of patients who require dialysis and even more distressing to see that these patients are getting younger,” he remarked.
Given the increasing number of patients requiring financial assistance nationwide, Dr Sim said the Board of Governors, at their last meeting, had agreed that the Foundation start organising events or campaigns to create awareness of the dangers of kidney disease and to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle as a way to reduce the need for dialysis treatment.
The Foundation would like to acknowledge the financial support from Natural Avenue over the years without which it would not have been able to provide financial assistance to patients undergoing dialysis at the various charitable dialysis centres in Sarawak, he added.
