Brunei's News Headlines - Brudirect.com

First With The News - Putting Your Business Online

HOME	PAGE TWO	BRUDIRECT MAIL	NEWS ARCHIVE	CLASSIFIED ADS	HAVE YOUR SAY

Brunei May Have New Hospital
By Lyna Mohamad

Bandar Seri Begawan – The Ministry of Health is looking at the feasibility of building a new hospital in the near future to better serve the growing needs of the population. The ministry is also looking into establishing a cancer centre and renal transplant service.

Minister of Health Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Suyoi Hj Osman disclosed this yesterday at the launch of the Brunei Medical Association (BMA) at the Songket Ballroom of The Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong.

"Our healthcare service today is in dire need of help. We are faced with the challenges of an increasing healthcare cost. As doctors you all can play a role in bringing the costs down through prevention, wellness, early detection and treatment."

This, he said, has to be understood in the context of all doctors, either in the health centers, hospitals or private clinics, working together to ensure that all services are readily available and accessible.

"Doctors' prescribing habits together with treatment decisions will ultimately influence the treatment costs," he added.

With the population becoming better educated and better informed, their awareness of health also increases and so does their demand for better and high quality health care. To meet these demands and expectations, doctors collectively should be able to work out what new responsibilities they are willing to take and what they are prepared to sacrifice in order to satisfy the needs.

"Sadly at this moment, many questions are left unanswered as long as doctors are not in unison as to what a standard quality of care is. The differences in what doctors perceive as standard -quality can be significant and may result in patients receiving sub-standard care."

The minister also reminded the doctors that there is no "one size fits all" treatment. A few patients may have had bad experience at the hands of the doctors, though not intentionally, but enough to leave a negative impression of the health care services and destroy whatever level of confidence they have in us, he said and asked, "So how do we counter the negative label that is readily given to us?

"These, and many other issues, concerning our profession, were why I feel the BMA should be established. Most of the issues I have touched point to the role the Medical Association can play to actively engage its members to improve the quality of health care to the community and this should be one of the main tenets of the association, which is to be more concerned with ethics and standards of professionalism among its members.

"By holding this high standard of care, it will bring prestige to the association and invariably will be recognized by the society as an association of high esteem.

"I have been asked to also mention that the association will make one of its main concerns as the well-being of its own professionals — the old advice 'physicians heal thyself. We lost one a couple of years ago and we certainly don't want to lose another by virtue of their occupation," the minister said.

"So what happens today could be remembered as an important milestone in the history of the medical profession in Brunei or a missed opportunity because they could not put their act together.

"Now that the baby is safely delivered, you all will work together to bring up the child. And whatever misgivings you have prior to today, they should not stop us from going ahead with the agenda of the Brunei Medical Association," he added and earnestly hoped that the association would be able to represent the interests of its members.

Earlier, the minister said that the health status of the people of Brunei, over the last few decades, has improved markedly. This is evidenced from the positive health indicators attained.

In 2006, the life expectancy for Bruneians stood at 74.1 for men and 77.7 for women. Infant mortality rate stands at 7.6 per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality rate at 0.2 per 1,000 births.

"All these are due to the Government of His Majesty's continued efforts to develop and improve health services throughout the country. Our government hospitals now have a bed capacity of 897 beds.

"Plans are under way to build the Women and Children Wing in RI PAS Hospital adding a further 279 beds," said the minister, adding that this will give hospital beds to population ratio at one bed every 340 people.

The ministry is also looking at the feasibility of building a new hospital in the near future to better serve the growing needs of the population and over the years the ministry has introduced various medical sub-specialties to respond to the growing needs for specialized medical treatment.

The ministry will also introduce more appropriate subspecialties in the future to provide better quality medical treatment and to reduce reliance on sending its patients overseas for specialized treatment.

Plans to build dialysis centers in the other three districts are well under way and with the completion of these centers, the ministry can better meet the needs of the growing end-stage renal failure patients. Additionally, the MoH is also studying the feasibility of establishing a cancer centre and renal transplant service.

"In community health too we are strengthening our health infrastructure by building more health centers and health clinics. Anew health centre has just been operational in Sungai Liang, while the health centre in Muara Town will be completed soon."

Significant strides have also been made in the area of health workforce development. In the government sector alone there are 334 doctors and if added to their colleagues in the private sector numbering 59, it comes to one doctor for every 992 people.

This, he added, is a healthy ratio equal to some developed countries and currently there are 194 local doctors, including 29 local specialists, and more are expected to return from their studies abroad.

In meeting the growing demand for high quality specialized medical treatments, more and more local doctors are sent to prominent medical institutions abroad to pursue higher specialist training and at the same time the ministry will continue to recruit suitable expatriate medical specialists to meet the demand, the minister added. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News

Back to News Page

Write to Us

Brunei's Fastest Growing Website with