KUCHING, Aug 24 — Rural health activist Agnes Padan has been appointed as PKR Sarawak women chief replacing Catherine Jok Uvang who left the party in May this year.
Sarawak PKR information chief Abun Sui Anyit said Agnes, who is also the party’s Lawas division deputy chairman was chosen by PKR National Women head Fuziah Salleh after consulting the state Women branch leaders.
“The state PKR leadership welcomes her appointment, Agnes has consistently shown her commitment towards the party and its struggle.
“This means that a Dayak woman from the Lun Bawang community has been given the trust by the party to lead the state Women’s wing for the first time in the history of PKR,” he said.
Agnes, 41, was born in Long Semadoh, Lawas, and is the only female among eight siblings. When her mother Kam Agong passed away in 2002 due to complications in giving birth, she was entrusted to take care of her younger siblings
“This tragic incident led her to start a campaign on the importance of health in rural areas, especially among Dayak women,” he said.
In November 2018, she produced a documentary with the cooperation of Freedom Film Network on Dayak women’s health in rural Sarawak.
Abun said the campaign was expanded state-wide and a petition was handed over to the Ministry of Health in April 2019 for the construction of a new Lawas Hospital.
He added the hospital was approved in 1996 when PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the Minister of Finance.
“Its construction has not taken place until April this year,” he said.
He said patients who are suffering from complicated health issues are transferred to the Miri Hospital which is a five to six hours of journey, involving passing through eight immigration checkpoints at the Sarawak-Brunei border.
Abun said in early 2019, Agnes started a petition for the construction of the Lawas Hospital and it was handed over to the former Health Minister Datuk Dr Zulfifli Ahmad in Parliament on April 9, 2019.
