whether or not you can survive depends on a number of factors.
Availability of treatment helps but if you cannot afford, then it is unavailable to you. Sometimes, whether you live or not depends on whether you have medical insurance, if you do not have sufficient funds at hand. Sometimes, without medical insurance, if your wife has the funds but refuse to help, then you are left to fend for yourself and leave it to fate at the local General Hospital. Not that all GHs are poorly equipped but the fact that it is the cheapest means more people are queueing for operations or other sophisticated treatment. In the case of heart problems, timing is often vital, and delay is not an option.
As I have mentioned before, my eldest brother had a heart attack at age 51, admitted into GH and died soon after. His second son at almost the same age, had a heart attack in London, had an angioplasty done soon after admission and is fitter than before. Recently, his third son, at age 52, had a heart attack in KL. He had an angioplasty done but still required by-pass operation to remove and replace 6 blocked arteries. He was lucky to be covered by a valid medical insurance which entitled him to private hospital treatment. He is now recovering. I dread to think what could have happened if he were to be admitted into KLGH or Institut Jantung and be among a long queue of patients waiting for an operation.
There was a complaint by a Sarawakian whose father died because the local hospital did not have the necessary facilities or because the surgeon was not free to carry out the operation. To the politicians who can make a difference, please focus on what is necessary for the people instead of promising and not delivering. That the government cannot afford is just an excuse. Cutting out the unnecessary middlemen, wastages and leakages could have made a lot of difference to government's affordability. Prioritise with a view to help humanity, not glorified defence equipment which we do not deserve.
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