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Hospital Sungai Buloh in the news. Not good news, though, if it is true….
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26 November 2015
Star
November 26, 2015 MYT 8:18:27 AM
RM468,000 facility for pregnant orang asli will be ready in February
PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Betis Transit Centre for pregnant orang asli women in Gua Musang is in poor shape because it was badly affected by the floods last December.
But the good news is that a new RM468,000 transit centre is now being built and will be ready for use in three months.
The Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) said the pregnant women were now staying at the old centre.
“All the equipment there such as beds, mattresses, cupboards, blankets, toiletries and medicines were completely destroyed in the flood,” Jakoa said in a statement.
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“The new centre will come complete with beds, mattresses and lockers,” it said, adding that it would be completed by February.
The current centre is located in a flood-prone area.
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Star
November 25, 2015 MYT 6:46:46 AM
One can smell the stench from Rumah Transit Kuala Bertis from quite a distance. There is rubbish everywhere. The toilets stink and there doesn’t seem to be anyone maintaining them.
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Home for expectant orang asli mothers rundown, filthy and ill-equipped
Poor condition: The transit centre for expectant mothers in Gua Musang has no proper furniture and is in a mess.
GUA MUSANG: He was expecting a place where his family could rest as they awaited the arrival of their second son.
But Temiar farmer M. Remy, 21, was in for a shock. The orang asli found the government centre for the community to be filthy, neglected and in the kind of conditions that are far from hygienic.
One can smell the stench from Rumah Transit Kuala Bertis from quite a distance. There is rubbish everywhere. The toilets stink and there doesn’t seem to be anyone maintaining them.
The place is infested with flies and the pests can be seen on sleeping children and would-be mothers. The children and mothers sleep on cold floors, with no mattresses and in many cases, no blankets.
The closest thing to a bed are wooden planks on which some of the orang asli mothers-to-be sleep.
Those with young children recycle diapers. The soiled diapers are cleaned and left to dry before being used again. For some reason, the orang asli do not use cloth napkins but commercial diapers.
Some of them claim there is often no nurse around to check on them.
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The team from The Star was also appalled at the dilapidated conditions of the centre which looked like an old school or a huge junkyard.
There were at least 20 people, including newborns as well as children, sleeping on bare floors with flies on their bodies. The recycled disposable diapers were hanging to dry on a fence.
The kitchen was locked and some of the residents said it was open only when the day’s three meals were served. Yet another orang asli said they received only two meals a day. And food is usually some boiled stuff.
There was also an abandoned ambulance at the centre.
A man believed to be a representative from the Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA), which administers the centre, was seen discouraging others from speaking to The Star team.
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weehingthong 