JERTEH: Paddy farmer Mohd Amin Ripam, 26, has to brave at least four badly-flooded stretches along a road from his home at Kampung Gong Nangka to the nearest government health clinic where his ailing father, Mohd Ripam Rani, 60, receives regular medical treatment.
Struck down with a stroke three years ago, Mohd Ripam is encountering difficulty in swallowing due to excessive phlegm accumulation in his throat.
Mohd Amin has no alternative but to ferry his father to and from the clinic in his car through badly-flooded roads and risk his engine stalling.
He said floodwaters rose to about 50cm high yesterday, and he had to be extremely careful in manoeuvring his old Proton Aeroback so that it would not end up in the drain.
"I am worried about the health condition of daddy. At the same time, I am also worried about the flood conditions.
"The road along the flooded stretches is basically invisible. It really takes lots of courage to drive. If not for daddy, I would stay home the whole day.
"Luckily, the clinic is only five kilometres away and the inundated road is still accessible, although I have to drive very slowly," he said when met at the Jerteh health clinic here.
Another patient, Mohd Noor Ramli, 40, of Kampung Gong Kemuntong, was down with fever on Tuesday, but could only visit the clinic yesterday, as the only access road to the clinic was under one metre-deep water a day earlier.
“As there was no way my car could get through, I had no choice but to just take panadol to temporarily relieve my fever and muscular pain," he said.
Checks showed a sharp drop in the number of outpatients in most government health clinics yesterday, as many patients could not go to clinics either due to floods in their villages or along the only access roads leading to the clinics.
For instance, the Jerteh health clinic, which registers an average of 80 patients daily, only had 52 patients on Tuesday. Up to 2pm yesterday, there were only 18 patients.
State Health Department director Dr Mohammad Omar said a medical team will be stationed at a flood relief centre with at least 1,000 evacuees for more than 24 hours.
He said the department will send medical teams to all centres to conduct health checks and screenings daily for those who fall ill, besides giving health education.