KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — The service at 353 Community Clinics nationwide will be enhanced including with the provision of doctors, pharmacies and healthcare services to the people, said Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He said, with improvement in the health service at Community Clinics, the government was confident that the delivery of healthcare services would be more accessible, especially for rural communities in remote areas.

"This is an improvement in the delivery system of the health service for the B40 group and those in the rural and remote areas,” he told the Dewan Rakyat sitting here today.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong) who wanted to know the government’s efforts to provide access to health facilities in rural and remote areas without private clinics.

The Community Clinics which were previously known as the 1Malaysia Clinic, were introduced by the previous government.

Earlier when replying to the original question from Kesavan Subramaniam (PH–Sg Siput) on the latest development concerning the National Health Care Scheme, Dr  Dzulkefly said the Health Ministry was in the process of conducting a detailed assessment on the implementation of the health protection scheme as it involved various factors.

"These include aspects such as health protection packages, targeted group data base, system development, health service provider mapping and the financial implication to the government,” he said.

Dr Dzulkefly said even though the government had postponed some of the 100 days promises, including the National  Health Care Scheme, the Health Ministry remained committed to continuing its efforts to implement the health protection scheme in phases. — Bernama