Kuching: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen has called for a properly funded long-term plan to renew the Flying Doctor Service (FDS) fleet, warning that the safety of aeromedical aircraft must not be left to chance or addressed only after a tragedy occurs.
Yii said he was deeply saddened by the deaths of the pilot and four Ministry of Health personnel in the FDS helicopter crash at Long Lellang, Baram, on 8 September 2026, extending his condolences to the victims’ families and solidarity with doctors, nurses, and medical assistants serving Sarawak’s remote communities at significant personal risk.
He said the tragedy must not be treated as an isolated incident but should serve as a turning point for lasting reforms to protect better healthcare workers deployed in the field.
“Beyond the immediate grief, it raises hard questions about the age and airworthiness of the aircraft used for this service, the safety training and insurance coverage given to the personnel who fly on them, and the indemnity arrangements that health workers are made to sign before they board,” he said.
Yii said these were systemic gaps that must be properly reviewed and addressed by the Ministry of Health and the Public Service Department.
He said the government must also establish a dedicated occupational health and safety framework for aeromedical personnel, with independent oversight and a clear, pre-established compensation structure for death or disability suffered in the line of duty.
“This is better than having compensation determined on a case-by-case basis behind closed doors,” he said.
Yii said safety training, insurance coverage, and equipment upgrades must also be permanently incorporated into the Ministry’s annual budget for the FDS, rather than treated as an afterthought or only addressed following a tragedy.
He warned that failure to properly address these concerns could discourage healthcare professionals from volunteering or accepting postings that require them to serve remote communities in Sabah and Sarawak.
“This, in turn, will come directly at the expense of the quality and reach of healthcare delivery to the very people these services exist to serve, who already face the greatest difficulty accessing timely medical care,” he said.
Yii stressed that communities in Sarawak’s interior depend on the FDS because they have no other means of accessing urgent medical care.
“The doctors, nurses, and medical assistants who answer that call do so out of duty to their patients. They deserve a system that is equally committed to protecting them,” he said.
Yii said the long-term reforms were necessary to ensure the safety and welfare of medical personnel serving remote communities were treated as a permanent government responsibility.
“I will be raising these matters in Parliament, and push for a serious and substantive response from the Ministries involved,” he said.
