UPDATED @ 06:03:31 PM 21-05-2013
KOTA KINABALU, May 21 – The government has spent RM21.7 million for the past six years in healthcare on foreigners in Sabah who did not pay for their treatments, a Health Department official told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants here today.
The number of immigrant patients, mostly comprising Filipinos and Indonesians, in government hospitals has also risen over the years to 40,826 people in 2011 that received inpatient treatment, or 19 per cent of patients in total.
“Foreign patients coming to the hospitals, whether they are outpatient or inpatient, are an increasing burden to us,” said Dr Maria Suleiman, the principal assistant director (Epidemiology) at the Sabah Health Department, at the RCI here today.
She also revealed that foreigners comprised 25 per cent of births at government hospitals in 2011, or 14,096 babies.
From 2000 to 2011, foreigners gave birth to 122,882 babies at government hospitals, averaging about 22 per cent of total births.
“Foreigners giving birth at government hospitals are worrying to us because the total number of births is 122,882,” said Maria.
About 28 per cent of Sabah’s 3.2 million-strong population are foreigners, totalling a whopping 889,000 people.
Maria also noted that Malaysians, in contrast, owed the government RM7.7 million in unpaid medical bills from 2007 to 2012.
A total of 1,009,716 foreigners received outpatient treatment at government hospitals from 2000 to 2011, while 295,053 foreigners were warded in the same period.
The number of foreigners that received outpatient treatment has been increasing steadily from 56,956 patients in 2008, or 2.6 per cent, to 81,651 patients in 2011, or 3.3 per cent.
“This is a significant number that affects the healthcare system,” said Maria.
The senior health official, who has worked in the government for 22 years, also said that there were 7,550 cases of communicable diseases among foreigners from 2010 to 2012, including measles, cholera, leprosy and hepatitis.
The number of foreigners infected with communicable diseases, however, has been slipping from 2,898 cases in 2010 to 2,143 cases in 2012.
Maria expressed concerns over the increasing number of foreign patients, saying: “The cost of treatments is huge.”
“Communicable diseases are always happening in Sabah too,” she added.
Maria, however, did not have at hand the total cost of healthcare for foreigners.
“The influx of immigrants is a national problem. The government needs to do something to return the rights of citizens – the right to medical treatment and health,” said Maria.
“The presence of foreigners has a big impact. But for humanitarian reasons, we still have to treat sick people,” she added.
The inquiry before a five-man panel led by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong resumes tomorrow.
