KUALA LUMPUR: A visibly upset Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad broke into tears when delivering his ministry’s rounding up speech on Budget 2025 debate at the committee level on Tuesday (Nov 16).
While recounting the experience shared by Riduan Rubin (IND-Tenom) and Dr Richard Rapu (GPS-Betong) about the lack of accessibility to healthcare for residents in their areas, the Health Minister could not hold back his tears.
Despite trying to gather himself, the Health Minister struggled to speak as he was overcome with emotion.
Presiding Speaker Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah then requested for Dzulkefly to take a short break and drink some water.
“Yang Berhormat Menteri, have a drink first. Please do,” said Shahar.
A total of 21 MPs took part in debates at the committee level.
Earlier during debates, Dr Richard said there are not enough dialysis centres in his area, and one family had to travel 200km to the nearest dialysis centre just to have dialysis twice a week
He said that the dialysis centres in Betong were completely full.
Riduan said that in two villages in his area, Kampung Rayoh and Pangi, some of its residents died because they could not get adequate medical care on time.
"One of them is a child who fell into a river and could not get medical attention in time.
"Another was bitten by a snake. Both died because they could not get to medical help on time" he said.
He urged the Health Ministry to set up a clinic kesihatan at Kampung Rayoh and Pangi.
These two villages are only accessible by train, he said.
