Sarawak is planning to improve its health facilities, but needs a lot of funds to implement the plan.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian, the state needs RM7.84 billion to overhaul its aging health clinics.
Out of 271 clinics throughout Sarawak, 76% or 206 clinics are in a bad condition.
These include 175 health clinics, 20 community clinics, nine mother and child clinics, and two rural clinics.
In addition, hospital facilities need another RM9.24 billion to upgrade. This means that Sarawak needs a total of RM17 billion to update its healthcare infrastructure.
To begin with, the central government has promised RM50 million, which will be matched by the state government.
The funding will be used to repair 12 of the worst health facilities, but the project is still in the planning stages.
Sarawak's healthcare system has received RM2.64 billion for operations and RM473.39 million for development this year.
These funds are used for staff training, minor repairs, equipment purchases and day-to-day operations.
Sarawak currently has over 26,600 healthcare workers, although some positions are still unfilled.
