KOTA KINABALU: The kiosk of national health protection scheme mySalam, needs to be extended to the remote and rural areas in Sabah as an effort to ensure that residents in the area can enjoy the initiative introduced by the Pakatan Harapan government since last year.
Housewife Noor Saniah Mahadi, 24, from Tenom said such kiosks should be established in rural and remote areas such as Keningau and Tenom as there were many eligible residents were not aware of mySalam, let alone how to register for the scheme.
Noor Saniah said she never knew about the scheme until her sister, Norsinah, 26 a chronic kidney patient who was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for 12 days last November, told her about it.
“In Tenom, most rural folks do no have a clue about mySalam or the RM50 per day claim. So I shared the little that I know with my immediate family,” she said when met by Bernama at the mySalam kiosk in the HQE I lobby, here.
Noor Saniah was there to help Norsinah to apply for the mySalam scheme claims for a one-off RM8,000 payment plus a RM50 daily payout.
Noor Saniah also complimented the mySalam kiosk staff there for being efficient in providing information to visitors and helping applicants fill out forms, register and review applications and claimants’ status.
Apart from HQE I, mySalam kiosks were also available at two other government hospitals in Sabah, the Women and Children Hospital, Likas and the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan.
Trader Rosita Ganggang, 43, from Telipok suggested that mySalam kiosk be set up at rural health clinics to enable eligible residents in each village to receive assistance and the free takaful health protection scheme.
“They can join forces with village committee members in collecting data of eligible residents so that they can be assisted,“ she said.
For Remelym Sikopit, 27, from Kota Kinabalu, who works in the hotel industry, mySalam was one of the best initiatives introduced by the government as not all Malaysians could afford insurance. He added that the benefits offered by the scheme could help cover the cost of treatment and medicine especially for the lower income group.
The MySalam scheme offers two types of assistance for 36 types of critical illnesses and recipients will receive a RM8,000 one-off payment, plus RM50 as replacement income if they are hospitalised at any government hospital, university medical hospital and military hospital for a maximum of 14 days per year or RM700 a year.
On Feb 11, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced the MySalam scheme would cover nine more critical illnesses including polio. - Bernama
