Medical centre staff told to leave premises

But assets to remain, says exco member

SEREMBAN: The management of the deregistered Mawar Medical Centre (MMC) and the Mawar Haemodialysis Centre (MHC) cannot remove any item from the building, including medical equipment, as they were acquired using public donations and government grants, says state exco member S. Veerapan.

He said the management had also been told to vacate the premises by next month as they had failed to reply to queries from the Federal Land Commissioner on the alleged violation of lease conditions.

The 0.6ha plot of land on which both facilities were built belongs to the federal government.

Veerapan, who is state health, environment, cooperatives and consumerism committee chairman, said the government had given the management some RM20mil in grants over the years to operate.

“The buildings and medical equipment are not private property because they were acquired through public funds and government grants,” he said yesterday.

Veerapan added that the health authorities had also stationed several personnel at the haemodialysis centre.

MHC, which has been operating for the past 22 years, and MMC sit on land leased from the federal authorities for a 30-year period.

On Jan 31, the management said it would be forced to stop treating its haemodialysis patients within two weeks as it had been unable to generate revenue after the Health Ministry revoked MMC’s licence in November.

The ministry had ordered MMC to cease operations after all but one of its specialists resigned.

It was also given two months to sort out its licensing issues.

However, the management failed to comply and its licence was revoked on Jan 12.

The management had submitted an application for a new licence, but this has yet to be approved.

MHC chairman Datin Chua Lay Ping said if the licence was not approved by yesterday, the management would be forced to auction its moveable assets to pay off its workers and creditors.

She added that the management needed RM4.5mil to run the dialysis centres, including those located nationwide, as well as to pay its workers for a month.

Earlier yesterday, a team from the Health Ministry sealed both MMC and MHC.

Chua, who was barred from entering her office, claimed that her staff were also told by the ministry team that they need not come to work today.

Chua’s staff later lodged a police report on the matter, saying that the officials came without informing her.

“We did not terminate the services of our employees or tell them not to come to work tomorrow (today),” she added.