The Federal Government’s decision to cut its spending this year due to the currently bleak economy is taking its toll on the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, and scuttles any hope of a new hospital in Perlis from being built.
The UMMC in Petaling Jaya sees its budget being cut by a staggering RM120 million, leaving it with RM387 million to work with in 2015, against the hospital’s expenditure of RM510 million last year.
The hospital’s budget was cut following a directive from the Ministry of Education, which has oversight on UMMC due to its status as a university-linked teaching hospital.
Universiti Malaya’s Dean of Medicine, Professor Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (pic), told The Malaysian Insider‘s Jennifer Gomez that UMMC was verbally informed of the budget cut earlier this year by the Education Ministry.
She added that the budget cut would further strain UMMC’s ability to serve as a medical institution, given that the number of patients seeking treatment there is expected to rise this year, and the added costs of the newly-implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST).
UMMC estimates that it would be paying RM4 million every month in GST costs.
Similar budget cuts have effectively scuttled plans to build a new hospital in Perlis, with the Padang Besar Hospital project falling victim to revised federal allocations.
Perlis Health and Rural Development Committee chairperson Jafperi Othman was quoted by The Malaysian Insider as saying the decision to scrap the Padang Besar Hospital was made by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.
The hospital project was among the promises made by the Barisan Nasional campaign in the state during the run-up to the 13th General Elections in 2013.
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