Hey! Health Ministry! RM800,000 for an ambulance? What’s it equipped with?

It was good news that the Health Ministry is in the midst of distributing 500 ambulances with new specifications to hospitals and health clinics nationwide to further enhance pre-hospital treatment and ambulance services in the country.

But, the cost of each ambulance is ridiculously high – at RM800,000 each!

“What’s it equipped with that it costs that humongous amount?” Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff asked.

He said government procurement of vehicles was always cheaper because “there’s no sales tax but of course with a spacious interior fully equipped with fibrillators and other monitoring equipment would add up to the costs”.

“But bumping up the cost of each ambulance to the tune of RM800,000 is way too high! Those who got this contract must be laughing all the way to the bank! No?” he added.

Syed Razak said the Health Ministry must take immediate transparent action to investigate and determine the actual cost of the ambulances.

“Justify the spending. Malaysians have the right to know how public money is being spent, every sen of it,” he added.

Syed Razak, who is Gerakan’s nominee to contest N.37 Bukit Lanjan in the coming 14th General Election (GE14), said “if the cost of the ambulances is justified, there is no reason why the ministry should hesitate to display transparency on the matter”.

“If the breakdown of the costs is justified, I am pretty sure Malaysians will accept it. After all, it is a justified project that benefits the rakyat(people),” he added.

He urged the ministry to act fast to justify the spending “before action is taken by others to raise the matter with other authorities”.

Here’s what national news agency Bernama reported and posted bymalaymailonline:

“500 new ambulances for government hospitals, clinics nationwide

Monday August 7, 2017
11:41 PM GMT+8