KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 ― Opposition lawmaker Charles Santiago proposed today channeling RM2 billion out of RM3.9 billion from the Defence Ministry’s development budget to the Health Ministry for cancer research.
The DAP representative asserted that the health sector was in greater need of finances, due to increasing cancer rates in the country, compared to the military when there was no risk of an imminent war at the moment.
However, the Klang MP’s motion was rejected by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.
“To my knowledge we are not going into war anytime soon. Do you see any war happening soon? Are we going to war with Singapore?
“And yet the Parliament Speaker again rejected my motion to provide financial help to them by channelling RM2 billion to the Ministry of Health from the Ministry of Defence to set up a cancer stimulus package,” Charles told a news conference in Parliament after his motion was rejected.
He explained that the RM2 billion channelled to the cancer stimulus package could be broken down into the following areas to enhance existing programmes: RM1 billion for hospitals to buy cancer medicines, RM400 million to the national cancer fund, RM400 million for training new oncologists and RM200 million for additional cancer research and early detection.
