[Watch] Health Minister Brought To Tears In Parliament

The painfully difficult situations of some patients caused the Health Minister to break down.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad was in a visible state of distress while in parliament as he started the session for the winding up of the 2025 Budget debate at the committee level for the Health Ministry.

The Health Minister became very emotional following an account of the experiences shared by Tenom MP Riduan Rubin yesterday.

Tenom, Sabah

Riduan painted an upsetting picture of the situation of two villages in his area, Kampung Rayoh and Pangi, where some of its residents have died due to an absence of adequate medical care in urgent situations.

The Health Minister found himself struggling to speak when he tried to give his speech after learning of the difficult situations the residents of the respective areas have to endure.

Betong, Sarawak

Early in the debate, Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) Betong MP Dr Richard Rapu shared how there is a lack of dialysis centres in Betong.

He described a situation in which a family had to travel 200km to the nearest dialysis centre in order to have dialysis twice a week as the centres in Betong were completely occupied.

Each of you may have heard the debate of another YB a moment ago at the end (of the debate), YB Tenom spoke of how his people ended up suffering. Facilities such as dialysis and hemodialysis are not only difficult to find, but they are also costly with each sessions costing RM80 per session with some even having to pay RM120. Added with the cost of transportation, in the end they choose not to do dialysis at all and end up paying with their lives. All this reminds me of the great responsibility (starts to tear) of the minister who…Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Health Minister

Presiding chairman of the session, MP Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah, stepped in and requested for the Health Minister to drink some water to calm down.

After taking a moment to calm down, Dr Dzulkefly stated that the charges imposed on the people are inappropriate if they have to pay with their lives.

I want to answer YB Tenom’s question, although the last one, the charges imposed on those who can’t afford it is inappopriate if they end up paying it with their lives.Datuk Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad

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