GOVT WANTS GUARANTEE COMPANY TO OFFER HEART TREATMENT TO LOW-INCOME EARNERS

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- The Government wants a guarantee from Sime
Darby Bhd, which is keen to buy stakes in IJN Holdings Sdn Bhd, that the
National Heart Institute (IJN) will continue to offer heart treatment to
low-income earners, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Thursday.

"If the party proposing to take over IJN can give us this assurance, then
probably our views on the takeover will not very tough. It also depends on
many other conditions," he told reporters at parliament lobby.

Abdullah said some parties disagreed with Sime Darby's proposal to buy
stakes in IJN Holdings which is 99.99 percent owned by the Finance
Ministry.

"Their assumption is that if IJN becomes a private entity, the medical
bills
will be very high and low-income earners can ill-afford to pay exorbitant
charges," he said.

Sime Darby is reported to have forwarded a proposal to the government to
acquire stakes in IJN Holdings, the company running the IJN, the country's
premier heart centre.

Abdullah said though IJN had emerged as a popular heart centre in this
region, ordinary people can still receive treatment from cardiologists at
reasonable charges.

"Many people like IJN as it is regarded as a very good and popular heart
centre. The best in the region and is known worldwide. Even the ordinary people
want to be treated by heart specialists," he said.

The prime minister said medical treatment was costly as it needed
sophisticated equipment, quality medicines and competent specialists.

"This depends on who owns IJN. A substantial amount of money is needed for
continuous upgrading of facilities and medical capabilities at IJN such as
increasing the number of beds for patients and performing more heart operations.

"All these incurs big financial expenditures," he said.

Abdullah however said there was also an advantage behind the takeover bid
if a company closely linked to the government such as Sime Darby, a
government-linked company (GLC), wants to help.

Asked whether the government could no longer bear the treatment cost at
IJN,
the prime minister said the government could still finance the cost.

"Not that we cannot bear the cost, if we can afford it, we will continue to
finance the cost.

"It is a question of making comparison. If IJN can be expanded further and
there are parties willing to finance it and they can guarantee us that
they can meet all requests that we expect from them, what's wrong?

"The government can build hospitals in other places," he added.

Sime Darby, a conglomerate, is reported to be willing to pay a higher
premium than the normal hospital evaluation by 16 times the income ratio as IJN
is a popular heart centre in this region.

Sime Darby has yet to confirm the percentage of stakes it intends to
acquire
from IJN Holdings.
-- BERNAMA