MP urges Sibu Hospital to address medicine shortages

SIBU (Oct 29): Sibu Hospital must ensure they have sufficient stockpiles of medicines to meet patient needs, said Sibu MP Oscar Ling.

Ling said he received complaints from two patients claiming that they were told that the medications they needed were out of stock during their recent visit to the hospital.

“One of them wanted to get the medicine for his heart problem and another for her cholesterol problem,” he said in a press statement.

Ling hoped that the hospital would take this matter seriously and that the pharmaceutical department would regularly check stocks to ensure timely procurement of medicines and prevent shortages.

He acknowledged that the hospital might face shortages of certain medicines towards the end of the year due to late replenishment.

He noted that domestic demand for medicine is increasing, and the country’s medical expenditure budget also increases annually.

“From this incident, it is obvious that our country is facing two major problems: half of our population is becoming overweight, and people are paying less attention to healthy living.”

Ling emphasised the need for people to exercise more, eat less oily food and avoid sweet drinks to prevent diabetes and other major health issues.

He pointed out that the country spends around RM4 billion annually to treat diabetes patients, which is a significant economic burden to the government.

“The best solution for the people is to do more exercise,” he said.

Ling also highlighted the aging population as another issue that increases the need for medical services.

He reminded the people to be prudent and only collect the quantity of medicines they require from the hospital.

“Do not keep the medicines in the cabinet until they expire and then throw them away. Sibu Hospital accepts unused medicines, which helps reduce waste of natural resources.”