JOHOR BARU, March 14 — The Johor government called on the Health Ministry to provide immediate funds to refurbish the Chaah clinic in Segamat that was badly damaged by the recent floods.
State Health and Unity Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the allocation will also assist in restoring the clinic’s operations after the premises were damaged early this month.
“The entire Chaah clinic’s facility was severely damaged where its assets and medical records were lost due to the floods.
“At present, the health clinic only conducts normal outpatient treatment at a temporary base in a community centre.
“Those who require proper medical treatment will need to go to other nearby health clinics,” Ling said at the Johor Home Ministry complex in Setia Tropika here last night.
The public clinic in the town of Chaah has about 80 medical staff and handles an average of 150 cases a day.
Ling said the Chaah clinic is currently sharing medical equipment with other clinics nearby.
He added that it has borrowed some medical equipment from hospitals as a short-term measure.
“In any case, we have applied to the Health Ministry for the allocation and it is hoped that the funding can be approved immediately in an effort to restore its operations,” he said.
Ling, who is the Yong Peng assemblyman, said the state government had earlier plans to build a new clinic in Chaah.
He said the plans were delayed due to several constraints, especially in terms of priorities.
Since last week, a total of 24 health facilities in the state have been affected by the floods since last week.
Public clinics in Sri Gading and Batu Pahat were also reported to be flood damaged.
However, the Chaah clinic was the worst hit with flood waters reported to be up to 1.25m deep.
