Fresh hope for patients: Hon and Chua exchanging letters of consent on the takeover after the press conference. Looking on is NSCMH CEO Prof Datuk Seri Dr K Sree Raman.
SEREMBAN: The NSCMH Medical Centre, which only a decade ago faced near closure due to lack of business and high debts, has now emerged as a saviour for some 400 dialysis patients.
It has agreed to take over 11 Mawar Haemodialysis Centres in five states.
NSCMH, which only started registering profits about two years ago, underwent a RM30mil upgrade in recent years as part of its redevelopment programme.
The medical centre has also consented to pay the salaries of 91 medical and non-medical staff at the Mawar dialysis centres which have run into financial difficulties.NSCMH vice-president Datuk Hon Choon Kim said it managed to help out after being told that the 11 centres no longer had the funds to operate.
“Our chairman Datuk Lee Tian Hock decided to intervene after we were told about Mawar’s problems.
“We had to do so as we don’t want the patients to be left in the lurch. This is also a part of our corporate social responsibility,” Hon told reporters yesterday.
Also present was Mawar Medical Centre chairman Datin Chua Lay Ping.
The 11 centres are located in Lukut, Bahau, Rantau, Kuala Pilah, Mantin (all in Negri Sembilan), Sepang and Seri Kembangan (Selangor), Gemas and Yong Peng (Johor), Seputeh (Federal Territory KL) and Tawau (Sabah).
Including the income earned by the centres, it costs an estimated RM250,000 a month to run them.
The NSCMH, which also has its own dialysis centre, took in 50 dialysis patients from Mawar after the latter ran into problems in February this year.
“When we took in the 50 patients, we had to invest in new dialysis machines and get our medical staff to work three shifts instead of two,” he said.
Chua later thanked Lee for the gesture, adding that due to the problems, the centres had been operating without valid licences for the past seven months.
“We are most grateful to NSCMH and Lee for this timely intervention. We can now breath easy as the patients will be well taken care of,” she said.
She said Mawar’s two other centres in Sarawak would be taken over by local non-governmental organisations.
The Health Ministry sealed the premises that house both the Mawar Medical Centre (MMC) and the Mawar Haemodialysis Centre in Seremban on Feb 14 after the management informed its dialysis patients of its impending closure.
The ministry moved in after the management wrote in to say it no longer had the funds to provide treatment or to pay its staff.
The Mawar Haemodialysis Centre, which is a non-profit organisation, also owns the MMC.
In November 2018, the ministry had ordered the MMC to cease operations after all but one of its specialists resigned.
Although it was given two months to sort out its licensing issues, the management failed to comply and its licence was revoked.
