BACTERIAL infection of the blood or septicaemia is among the main causes of death among Malaysians in government hospitals, Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said.

He said 16.8 per cent of the 40,000 deaths in government hospitals in 2006 was due to septicaemia, also known as blood poisoning.

"Septicaemia is a condition related to chronic diseases, like infections of the lung, abdomen or urinary tract, which can occur before or during infection to the bone (osteomyelitis), or to the neurosis system (meningitis) or other tissues," he said in response to a question from Datuk Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Liow said that besides septicaemia, the other main causes of death among Malaysians were heart and pulmonary diseases (15.7 per cent), cancer or malignant neoplasms (10.59 per cent), strokes due to cerebrovascular disease (8.49 per cent), pneumonia (5.81 per cent) and accidents (5.59 per cent).

On measures to enhance the delivery system in government hospitals, Liow said the focus would be on providing the best health service to the people, including reducing the waiting time to be treated to 30 minutes and providing a special lane for the disabled and senior citizens seeking outpatient treatment.
Liow said efforts were being made to enhance the corporate culture practice at all its facilities with emphasis on three values - caring, team work and professionalism.