3 February 2019

Press statement by MCA Spokesperson Chan Quin Er

SOSCO TIGHTENING OF ELIGIBILITY FOR DIALYSIS TREATMENT: MCA TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION IF DECISION NOT REVERSED

The MCA would like to state its disdain with SOCSO’s decision to revise its terms of eligibility for dialysis treatment, which may render many new contributors and beneficiaries under SOCSO’s Invalidity Pension, Employment Injury and Invalidity Grant Scheme ineligible for treatment. 

We call upon the Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran to negotiate with SOCSO to make them see the error of their ways and reverse their decision. 

These revised terms were gleaned from an internal circular signed off by Dato' Sri Dr. Mohammed Azman Bin Dato' Aziz Mohammed, SOCSO’s Chief Executive. There are three new requirements: 

1.That the applicant must have made at least 24 months of contributions within a consecutive 40-month period to qualify for dialysis treatment. 

2.That such applicant’s Invalidity Notice must have been forwarded to SOCSO before attaining 60 years of age.

3. That such applicant’s monthly contributions must not be less than a third (1/3), beginning from the first contribution made after joining the Scheme, right up to the receipt of such applicant’s Invalidity Notice. 

If SOCSO wishes to defend its decision, they should at least make public the internal rationalisation memorandum that prompted this move.

It seems rather strange for SOCSO to narrow down access to dialysis treatment as a means of improving the fund’s sustainability, when SOCSO seems to be doing rather well financially. It was announced in late 2018 that SOCSO will be funding the construction of a combined rehabilitation centre & hospital in Ipoh, supposedly Southeast Asia's largest, at the cost of RM500 million. In comparison, SOCSO only needed to spend RM200 million in 2017 to provide members with free dialysis treatment under the old broader requirements. Kulasegaran, who is coincidentally the MP for Ipoh Barat as well the Human Resources Minister, should no doubt be aware of this. 

SOCSO should not be sacrificing the allocation for providing the poor and needy with essential dialysis treatment, in return for fancy new rehab resorts.

It is bad enough that many SOCSO contributors face an endless stream of bureaucratic hurdles regarding claims and grants, but to be denied a vital healthcare service when your kidneys are failing due to a mere procedural slip-up such as missing a monthly contribution, is beyond tolerance. 

If SOCSO does not reverse their decision, and begins turning people away from dialysis facilities due to these new requirements, rest assured that the MCA will not hesitate to initiate legal proceedings against SOCSO

Chan Quin Er
MCA Spokesperson

-MCA online-