I welcome the move by the government to continue Skim Perubatan Madani(SPM) initiative by the Ministry of Health(MOH) in the upcoming budget 2024 and encourage all eligible recipients to make full use of this initiative which provides free treatment for low-income families (B40) from private general practitioner (GP) clinics.
Initially, there were 11 districts that were selected as one of the first locations throughout Malaysia including Kuching for the initiative to be implemented, but has been extended to different places around the country, including different regions in Sarawak.
As of 29/10/23 nationwide, there is a total of 213,913 households that are enrolled with them making a total of 355,467 visits and a total of 2,173 GP clinics that are registered with the program.
In Sarawak, there are a total of 14,425 households enrolled in the initiative, and a total of 23,431 visits have been made with a total of 83 GPs registered. These places include Kuching, Bau, Betong, Bintulu, Miri, Mukah, Samarahan Sararok, Serian, Sibu , and Sri Aman.
Kuching alone as of 29/10/23 had a total of 20,837 visits with a total of 12,558 households enrolled and a total of 45 GPs clinics registered.
While there is a good response to the initiative, there is still more room for more households to benefit from the initiative. For Kuching alone, this initiative is said to be benefiting 53,287 households, where for each Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) recipient, the government allocates RM250 for each household, RM125 for senior citizens (without their partner), and RM75 for singles.
That is why as i welcome the extension of such good initiatives to help reduce congestion in main hospitals that will benefit the public, I would encourage more of those eligible to make full use of this benefit for themselves and eligible family members.
The STR recipients can obtain as many free treatments as they want until the allocation for each household is finished.
This will benefit all STR recipients and they will be registered automatically into this initiative automatically and all they need is to bring their IC to a REGISTERED GP clinic.