Going the extra mile
Datuk Aliyah Karen has made it her mission to help the poor access healthcare, and the foundation she heads will now help them treat their cardiovascular illnesses.
AS she walks through the dialysis centre at the MAA Medicare Charitable Foundation’s premises, Datuk Aliyah Karen is greeted loudly by a few kidney patients undergoing treatment. They call out to her, and she chats with them for awhile.
“We have become like family. After all, many of these patients have been coming to the centre for years. They come at least three times a week and spend about four to five hours each visit. We celebrate their birthdays, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and other festivities too. Often, they boss me around,” says Aliyah.
As the foundation’s CEO, she makes it a point to know the patients who seek treatment at MAA Medicare’s 12 dialysis centres nationwide.
They serve 830 patients with chronic kidney disease.
The non-profit organisation has been subsidising treatment for needy kidney patients for the past 24 years and Aliyah has just celebrated her 20th year there.
As the foundation’s head, she’s responsible for raising funds so that more patients can access affordable treatment.
But the foundation has gone the extra mile.
Apart from treatment subsidies, hard-core poor patients who earn a household income of RM1,000 or below also get some form of aid, such as free groceries. They also provide transportation for needy patients.
“I always feel that we are not about charity but more about humanity. It’s not enough to give them treatment. We have to make sure that they get to enjoy quality of life too,” says Aliyah, adding that her nurses are encouraged to go on house calls and hospital visits to check on patients.
The MAA Foundation has a team of 16 visiting nephrologists and doctors and 114 nursing staff, and a management staff of 25.
Now that their programme for kidney patients is well off the ground, the foundation is extending aid to needy heart patients through their brand new Cardiac Diagnostic and Treatment Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The ten-bed facility, fitted with state-of-the-art equipment such as a Diagnostic Coronary Angiography, 128 multislice CT scanner, stress test and digital X-Ray machines, is the country’s first charity cardiac centre. It offers subsidised diagnosis services as well as treament (doctors are able to perform angioplasty at the centre) for heart patients who cannot afford the high costs of care and treatment in private medical facilities.
“It has been an enormous logistical and financial challenge getting this centre set up. From re-registering ourselves – we were known as MAA Kidney Charity Fund before – to making sure the facility complies with the stringent conditions set by the Health Ministry and procuring the high-tech equipment, it was a huge investment and a lot of work.
“But the centre is up and ready now – we have our doctors, and have met the requirements of the ministry. We are awaiting the approval from the ministry ... hopefully the new minister will give it to us as soon as possible,” says Aliyah.
The proposal to extend their medical assistance programmes to heart patients was mooted by consultant thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon Datuk Dr Ghandhiraj Somasundram, who is a board member of the foundation.
“He urged us to look into the welfare of heart patients who don’t have anywhere to turn to for financial assistance to bear the very high costs of treatment,” says Dr Aliyah.
The foundation ran feasibility studies on the viability of starting an aid programme for heart patients and recognised the huge need for financial assistance for needy heart patients.
Cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death globally and also in Malaysia – accounting for at least a quarter of deaths in the country.
What is worrying, Aliyah points out, is that a quarter of those who die from heart-related diseases are people at the prime of their lives.
“A number of these cases could have been avoided by easier access to medical treatment, particularly for those in the lower income groups,” she says.
According to Health Ministry statistics, there were 11,378 deaths at government hospitals in 2015 due to diseases of the circulatory system. Of these, 4,049 were due to coronary heart diseases. Poorer people are at greater risk simply because they have less access to medical treatment or lack funds for essential drugs and treatment.
“It was very shocking to find out through our study that the waiting list (for treatment and intervention) was so long in government hospitals.
“Not every state hospital has a cardiac unit, so heart patients would have to travel all the way to Serdang in Selangor.
“The Institut Jantung Negara has a private wing but the waiting list is long.
“So where do patients go? How can the man on the street afford treatment? Treatment costs can start from RM30,000. And patients have to put up a deposit of RM5,000 to RM8,000. After learning all these, we were convinced that we needed to do something,” says Aliyah.
But there were real concerns which the foundation had to address: could they afford to subsidise the high cost of heart treatments?
“The cost of setting up the centre came up to about RM12mil. The equipment alone costs RM8mil. It’s feasible to subsidise dialysis treatment which comes up to between RM100 to RM200 per patient, but the cost of heart treatments are in the tens of thousands,” she says.
However, the need for aid was too urgent for the non-profit organisation to ignore. By dipping into their reserve funding, through partnerships and fundraising programmes, the cardiac centre was established. Although the big task of setting up the new centre is all done, work doesn’t stop for Aliyah and her team.
“Our dialysis centres are running daily and so our work never stops.
“We don’t have to go the extra mile but we can, and I think it’s important we do. What is really rewarding is seeing a smile on the face of a patient,” she says.