KUALA LUMPUR: Housewife Tan Geek Koon, the country's latest heart transplant patient, has begun eating three days after undergoing the surgery to receive the organ of a teenage male who died in an accident in Ipoh.

National Heart Institute (IJN) chief cardiothoracic surgeon Datuk Dr Mohd Azhari Yakub said the 41-year-old mother of four was in stable condition after Tuesday's surgery.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Geek Hoon, 41, can finally lead a normal life now after a successful heart transplant at the National Heart Institute (IJN) yesterday.

A heart, kept in a special storage box, was flown in by a Royal Malaysian Navy's Fennec helicopter from Ipoh Hospital to IJN on Tuesday.

Since November 2008, Tan has been surviving by using a mechanical heart assist device.

Will the privatisation of the National Heart Institute (IJN) be beneficial to the Malaysian public?

 

Bala Nair, 25,
e-commerce executive, Klang

I think IJN shouldn’t be privatised as it is a hospital for the rakyat with heart problems

 

 

 

CONSUMER groups reacted furiously over allegations to privatise the National Heart Institute (IJN), slamming the government and hospital for the alleged move.

They promised to organise “serious” protests and signature campaigns if the plan went through.

THE Economic Planning Unit (EPU) has not agreed or approved any privatisation plan for the National Heart Institute (IJN), says Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department overseeing
the EPU.

He told Malay Mail that “IJN will never be privatised” and that he was “always against it (privatising IJN)”.

He also refuted claims that IJN’s medical director, Datuk Seri Robaayah Zambahari, will be presenting the proposed restructuring plan to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Tuesday.

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the alleged new privatisation plan for the National Heart Institute (IJN) will defeat the purpose why the IJN was set up.

The former premier said this when asked if such a move by the IJN board of directors would undermine
the function of the hospital which was to accord affordable health services.

Dr Mahathir, himself once a patient at IJN, said many people were looking at the profitability of the IJN.

“Some people are being influenced by this,” he said, but added that was not what IJN was set up for.

IS there a fresh attempt to privatise the National Heart Institute (IJN)?

IJN, which had fended off an initial move by Sime Darby to take control of it last year, looks to be facing a renewed bid.

But this time, the threat appears to come from within, with the IJN board of directors allegedly ready to “disembowel” the 17-year-old medical institution.

THE National Heart Institute (IJN) is facing a shortage of donor organs, especially for heart transplants.

There are 24 heart failure patients on IJN’s waiting list for transplants, IJN’s clinical director of Transplant Services Dr Mohamed Ezani Mohd Taib told a media briefing yesterday.

THE average life span of a mechanical heart is only 24 months and Winnie Chen has used up 14 months.

CHEN Winnie, 24, is a patient of the National Heart Institute (IJN) and it is because of the IJN that she now lives with hope.

"I am still on the waiting list for a heart donor but I am being taken very good care of by the people in IJN," she said.

"I have been with IJN for a year and have been very happy with their help," she added.