BY: SYAZWANI SUFIAN
SHAH ALAM, JAN 11: The fate of higher education and health in the country is worrying when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is seen to be neglecting citizens’ welfare with cuts in budgets this year.
Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament, Nurul Izzah Anwar questions Najib’s credibility as a Prime Minister, as Universiti Malaya (UM) has to bear nearly 60% cuts in budget for research and development.
“This has resulted in UM officers making statements that it is impossible for them to retain the excellence of their research when budget is reduced. Just imagine, a RM100 million budget for 2015 is now cut to RM40 million in 2016.
“UM’s fate is based on the budget for Malaysian universities, where all of them have been cut tremendously.
“UM was given RM638.1 million in 2015, and was cut by 27% to RM463.9 million in 2016 consistent with a 40% reduction in research budget for last year,” she said in a statement.
Nurul Izzah said now the total allocation for UM is only RM370 million for 2017, which is 20% less from 2016 and 42% less than from 2015.
This is more unfortunate for other universities with teaching hospitals, like the University Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM).
“Without a periodic and sustainable long-term plan, universities should not be burdened with trying to generate income and bear technical costs due to failure in ministry’s policy to manage the country’s finances.
“It is most unfortunate for medical students and hospitals who are affected by the universities’ budget cuts.
Patients will have to be charged higher when hospitals can no longer support funding treatments and medicine,” she said.
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