IPOH, Feb 5 — As a patient, is it worth paying only RM1 for a medical consultation when the diagnosis and treatment is not provided by a qualified doctor?

To Dr Lee Boon Chye, this question is of great significance in weighing the continuation of the popular 1Malaysia clinics started by the previous Barisan Nasional administration in 2010 that has been causing the federal government to haemorrhage financially.

“For every visit, the ministry spends RM20. That is not inclusive of staff cost. Just to supply medicines and others such as rental for the clinics and overtime for staff manning the clinics,” the deputy health minister told Malay Mail in a recent one-on-one interview.

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But that is not all, he said; some of the clinics were manned only by medical assistants.

“There are no doctors. If there is misdiagnosis, you will have a problem,” he added.

With a nominal charge of only RM1 per visit and located close to residential neighbourhoods, the 1Malaysia clinics seemed like a dream come true to cash-strapped and ill Malaysians with its offer of cheap and convenient healthcare.

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Nine years on, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has been vilified online for its plan to shutter some of the 347 1Malaysia clinics nationwide.

“Patients are charge RM1 per visit and it is at your doorstep, but you are giving patients a false sense of security,” he said.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye indicated that some of these cheap and convenient clinics posed a risk to the public’s health that the new government was not willing to chance. — Picture by Farhan Najib
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye indicated that some of these cheap and convenient clinics posed a risk to the public’s health that the new government was not willing to chance. — Picture by Farhan Najib

He said that judging on the money spent to maintain the 34 clinics identified for closure, the government would be better off contracting private general practitioners to run a public health service in the neighbourhood.

“The most expensive treatment in the world is not how much money you paid, but when treatment is useless or misdiagnosed,” he emphasised.

Last month, national news agency Bernama reported Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad planned to close 34 out of 347 1Malaysia clinics as they received fewer than 40 patients daily and were located within 5km of at least one other 1Malaysia clinic.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had hammered the PH government that took over from the BN on the planned closures.

In a Facebook post, the Pekan MP accused PH of being “business” minded rather than acting in consideration of its social welfare duty.