KUALA NERANG: Building haemodialysis centres in Felda regions will improve the residents’ access to medical treatment, say settlers.
Mat Awang Saad, the head of Felda Lubuk Merbau here, said that currently, kidney patients are seeking treatment at the clinics or hospitals in town.
“A haemodialysis facility will provide them with convenient access to medical care so that kidney patients in Felda settlements do not have to stay at their children’s homes in town, which are close to clinics and hospitals, only to seek treatment.
“Some even have to rent a house so that they can easily travel back and forth to the clinics or private haemodialysis centres.
“We hope that the centre will help reduce costs and make it easier for the settlers to get dialysis treatment,” he told Bernama.
For Osman Awang, 81, the initiative to set up haemodialysis centres at Felda regions demonstrates the government’s genuine concern for the settlers’ health and well-being.
“We are also requesting the installation of 40 more street lights, especially from Kampung Berjaya and Kampung Kura to our village, as well as five road junctions here to improve residents’ safety,” he added.
Another settler, Anuar Rahim, 58, has asked the government to address drainage issues in the Felda settlements, which, according to him, have not yet been resolved.
“There are areas that will be flooded if it rains excessively,” he said.
On July 7, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced several initiatives and incentives to improve the quality of life and welfare of Felda settlers, including providing infrastructure, healthcare, digitalisation and housing.
Among the initiatives announced were the Rahmah Health Contribution (SKR), which involves an allocation of RM21.21mil; the construction of a haemodialysis centre with an allocation of RM21mil; expenses for the cost of operating street lights at RM7.7mil per year; and a diesel subsidy of RM36mil a year for three Felda settlements in Sabah.
He also announced the implementation of the Digital Madani programme to empower the gig economy, resolutions to issues with regard to the Felda New Generation Housing (PGBF) scheme, and efforts to help rubber smallholders switch to other commodity crops such as oil palm and coconut.
