Call to install ‘long overdue’ mammogram machine at Tawau Hospital

TAWAU: The Health Ministry (KKM) has been urged to expedite installation of the long overdue new mammogram screening machine at the Tawau Hospital.

Tawau Member of Parliament Datuk Christina Liew made the clarion call in view of the procrastination in installing the essential equipment.

“I understand the KKM had approved the procurement of this much-needed facility but pending installation indefinitely. Any undue delay is unwarranted and causing great inconvenience and financial burden on those who require mammogram screening service. Poor women who are affected cannot afford to seek medical attention from private healthcare facilities.

“The Health Ministry must treat this outstanding matter with urgency if it genuinely cares for the people’s well-being. Do not allow bureaucratic foot-dragging to cause unnecessary hardship to the rakyat,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Liew recalled that she had raised the issue in Parliament in 2018, and procurement of the mammogram screening machine was subsequently approved by the then Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in 2019.

“I was informed about the approval,” she said.

But disappointingly, since the change of federal government in February 2020 until today, there is no sign of this long awaited facility at the hospital, according to her.

Affected residents told the Tawau MP, who is also Api Api Assemblywoman, that they were forced to go to the private hospital or fly all the way to the state capital for mammogram screening when the need arose.