KOTA KINABALU: With no public transport after 2pm and long, costly journeys to Sandakan, many Telupid residents have had to delay or forgo surgery entirely.
Patients requiring even minor procedures typically have to travel 170km to Duchess of Kent Hospital (HDOK) in Sandakan, enduring a three- to four-hour journey on poor roads, and spending over RM500 on transport and accommodation.
Recognising this burden, Dr Lai Chung Ket and his team have stepped up to bring surgical services to Telupid, performing up to 48 procedures in a single day and setting a precedent for better healthcare accessibility in rural Sabah.
“Many patients cannot afford to travel to Sandakan for surgery.
“They have to come a day before, stay overnight and sometimes wait another day before going home.
“This means three days away from work and family, plus transport and accommodation expenses that can easily exceed RM500,” said Dr Lai, head of the surgical department at HDOK.
“By bringing these services to Telupid, we are making surgery accessible to those who need it the most.”
Telupid is a rural district in central Sabah, home to around 30,000 people, many of whom rely on subsistence farming, rubber tapping and small-scale agriculture.
Limited infrastructure and healthcare access mean that for years, residents have had to endure long trips for medical treatment – an issue the Global Surgery Initiative (GSI) is now working to address.
The initiative, launched by the Health Ministry in 2023, aims to utilise specialist hospital expertise to support district hospitals in performing essential surgical procedures.
At the core of this initiative is the “cluster concept”, a resource-sharing model that pools facilities, instruments and human resources between specialist and district hospitals.
Recently, this approach has been extended to public health clinics, ensuring broader patient outreach.
Recently, the Sandakan cluster marked a significant milestone, as a GSI outreach programme took place at Telupid Health Clinic for the first time.
The programme provided life-changing access to surgical care for patients who would otherwise have needed to travel to HDOK in Sandakan – a trip that often requires three days and two nights due to transport limitations.
By conducting surgeries at Telupid Health Clinic, the initiative eliminated this financial burden, making it possible for 48 patients to receive surgical procedures without having to leave their hometown.
They included 28 excision biopsies, 12 circumcisions and eight haemorrhoid bandings.
Despite some manpower challenges, the event ran smoothly thanks to support from Hospital Kinabatangan and Hospital Beluran, with each providing an operational team.
Dr Lai also conducted a public health talk, ensuring patients left with not just medical care but valuable health knowledge as well.
“This is just the beginning. We hope to extend the initiative to more clinics in rural Sabah so that patients don’t have to choose between their health and their finances,” he added.
This outreach highlights the potential of the “cluster concept” and the commitment of HDOK’s surgical team to making healthcare more accessible.
With hopes of expanding the initiative to more health clinics in the future, the team remains dedicated to ensuring that every patient – whether from urban, suburban or rural communities – has access to compassionate and quality surgical care.
