MORE AMBULATORY CARE CENTRES UNDER 10TH MALAYSIA PLAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The government plans to build six more
ambulatory care centres (ACCs) nationwide under the 10th Malaysian Plan (10MP),
besides further encouraging the private healthcare sector to also implement such
a concept.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the ACCs, which provided day-care
services to patients, were important as they could reduce congestion at the
hospitals and healthcare operating cost by 30 per cent.

Currently, there are 15 ACCs at the government hospitals, including three at
Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Raja Perempuan Zainab 2 Hospital in Kota Bharu and Tuanku
Ja'afar Hospital in Seremban which are still under construction. The 13 other
ACCs are at private hospitals.

"If the financial situation in the 10MP permits, we shall try to build
ACCs in six other state hospitals -- in Perlis, Kedah, Melaka, Johor,
Sabah and Sarawak, and some of the major specialist hospitals," he told
reporters after opening the Alpha Specialist Centre in Kota Damansara, near
here, Tuesday.

Liow said the cost of setting up an ACC was between RM130 million and RM150
million, depending on the scope of services offered.

"A typical ACC built by the ministry will have 40 to 50 day-care beds, six
operating theatres, specialist clinics for five to six specialties, four
endoscopic suites, an outpatient pharmacy and other supporting facilities," he
added.

On another development, Liow said the ministry would conduct a thorough
study on providing cervical cancer vaccine for young girls before implementing
it, in the wake of an incident where a 14-year-old girl in Britain died after
receiving the vaccine.

He, however, reiterated that the vaccine was proven 98 per cent effective in
protecting women from cervical cancer, which is the number two killer disease
for women in this country after breast cancer.

Last Saturday, the government announced that free jabs against cervical
cancer would be given to 13-year-old girls.

On Influenza A(H1N1), Liow said the government would maintain vigilance with
its preventive measures to contain the infection.

"As long as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not withdrawn the Level
6 alert, we will remain alert. We can't take things lightly as we are bracing
for the likely second wave of the pandemic," he said.

To date, 896 new influenza-like illness (ILI) cases had been reported, with
only 137 confirmed A(H1N1) positive.

Meanwhile, the director-general of Health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican in a
statement said 324 new ILI cases were warded Tuesday while 132 were discharged.

He said of the cases being treated at the hospitals, 18 were warded in the
intensive-care units.

"All the 18 cases were confirmed A(H1N1) positive, with 16 of them having
risk factors, whereby seven of them are under five years old, four being obese,
three having chronic diseases and two with respiratory diseases."

However, he added that no deaths from Influenza A(H1N1) were recorded
Tuesday.
-- BERNAMA