Takeover of medical centre not viable

Negri govt drops idea after MMC’s management imposes extra conditions

SEREMBAN: The state government would have taken over the now shuttered 98-bed Mawar Medical Centre (MMC) if not for additional and unilateral conditions imposed by its management after two rounds of talks, says Mentri Besar Aminuddin Harun.

He said the state administration was also prepared to take over MMC’s debts but dropped the idea when it received a letter about the additional conditions from the management.

“We were keen to take over as we wanted to save the medical centre.

“Both sides had agreed on the takeover conditions during talks in October but we decided to drop the idea completely as we could not afford it after the additional conditions were set,” Aminuddin told reporters.

On Nov 5, the Health Ministry ordered the MMC to cease operations following the resignation of almost all its medical specialists.

The doctors, who resigned on Nov 1, claimed that they had not been paid their dues amounting to RM5.8mil.

On Nov 8, 12 medical specialists served a winding-up notice on Mawar Haemodialysis Centre, which runs MMC, giving the management 21 days to settle the dues.

Yesterday, Aminuddin declined to elaborate on the new conditions imposed by MMC’s management.

“All I can say is that we were taken aback as we cannot use taxpayers’ money as we like.

“We are worried that if we accept the additional conditions, it can also adversely affect the financial stand- ing of my administration,” he said.

Despite the order to cease operations, the Health Ministry’s deputy director-general Datuk Dr Azman Abu Bakar said MMC’s haemodialysis wing, or Mawar Haemodialysis Centre, which ranks among the country’s largest non-profit private dialysis centres, could continue to operate as usual.

The ministry also gave MMC two months to sort out its licensing issues and change the status of the centre from a private hospital to a haemodialysis centre.

Asked whether the state adminis- tration was still keen to take over MMC, Aminuddin said this was not an option for now.

“We may reconsider once the order to cease operations is reversed and the additional conditions are dropped,” he said.

On a separate matter, Aminuddin said Seremban would officially be declared a city in 2020.

He said a decision by the former state Barisan Nasional government to do so on Jan 14 next year in conjunction with the birthday celebration of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan had been deferred.