00:00Flying doctor service, bringing healthcare to rural areas.
00:04Five FDS personnel recently lost their lives in the tragic helicopter crash at Longlelang, Ulu Baram.
00:11The tragedy has reignited concerns and anger over the safety and welfare of healthcare workers.
00:17The FDS has since been suspended in Sarawak for safety assessments and investigations.
00:23Currently, over 80 localities in Sarawak rely on this service.
00:27For more than 50 years, the service has been a medical lifeline for thousands of people living in rural Sabah
00:34and Sarawak.
00:35FDS is part of the Health Ministry's mobile clinic services.
00:39It brings primary healthcare to communities in areas that are difficult to reach by road.
00:44A typical FDS team consists of a pilot, a doctor, a medical assistant and two nurses.
00:50Depending on the location, teams may travel by boat or four-wheel drive vehicles.
00:55And in some of the most isolated areas, they simply have to fly.
00:59They provide essential healthcare services, including maternal and childcare, childhood vaccinations and outpatient treatment.
01:07They also follow up with patients suffering from non-communicable diseases and attend to basic emergencies.
01:13In serious medical emergencies, patients are airlifted to hospitals for further treatment.
01:18But for all this, they are only paid RM30 for each flight.
01:22That rate has remained unchanged since 1978.
01:27The Health Ministry says it has been working to revise the allowance rate.
01:31It is said that RM60 is the new proposed rate.
01:34But for many in the medical fraternity, questions remain over whether enough is being done to recognise the risk faced
01:41by healthcare workers.
01:42On top of that, there have been concerns over the safety of the transport assets that are used for day
01:48-to-day duty.
01:49It is now time for serious reforms.
01:51For decades, they have flown through dense forests and challenging terrain to bring care to thousands in rural areas.
01:59As the nation mourns the crash victims, the Borneo skies and thousands in the rural areas will never forget their
02:05service.
02:12The
02:13You
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