KUCHING: The Ministry of Health (MOH) will review its scheduled Flying Doctor Service (FDS) operations in the state following the helicopter crash in Long Lellang, Ulu Baram, which claimed five lives.
Health Director-General Datuk Seri Dr Mahathar Abdul Wahab said the FDS comprised several components, including scheduled medical services to remote communities and medical evacuation (medevac) flights for critical patients.
“There are actually several components to the Flying Doctor Service.
“The first component is the scheduled service, which is provided once a month or every two months, depending on the needs of people living in remote areas,” he said.
He said this during a live press conference regarding the helicopter incident involving the MOH Flying Doctor Service (FDS) at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, today (Sept 9).
He said another component was medevac, which involved transporting critical patients requiring urgent medical treatment.
“For the time being, from the Ministry of Health’s perspective, for medevac services, if there is a need to transport critical patients and the flight is permitted — taking into account the weather and other requirements, including flight clearance — then it needs to be carried out.
“This is because it involves critical patients,” he said.
However, Dr Mahathar said scheduled FDS operations would be reviewed, with the ministry providing further guidance to teams on the ground from time to time.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the ministry would obtain the details of the company responsible for maintaining the helicopter involved in the crash.
“We do not have that information at the moment. Certainly, we will obtain the information.
“I had already asked my team about this earlier, but they have not come back to me yet,” he said.
Dr Dzulkefly said he had instructed his team to provide the helicopter’s full history, including its maintenance records.
“I have asked the team to provide the full history, including the maintenance records, because maintenance is carried out regularly and we do not compromise on this.
“The service is provided by a contracted company, and we certainly want to ensure that safety is maintained at a high level,” he said.
