A FRAIL 76-year-old woman lies on Bed 11, Ward Nine in Hospital Seri Manjung, Perak. It took the hospital authorities six days to set in motion an appointment for a computed tomography scan at Ipoh Hospital.

The scan showed my aunt suffered a stroke and due to the lack of oxygen supply to her brain, she would suffer lasting damage.

To some, it may be a trivial matter which happens daily to a number of people, but to me, it’s a harsh blow now that she no longer remembers me. I wonder, if they had diagnosed her condition earlier, could the damage have been minimised?

Meanwhile, the report on a “cost-benefit analysis of the purchase of the Soyuz-TMA 11 capsule and the second angkasawan programme will be sent to cabinet next month, a programme that might cost more than RM60 million (”Still mulling space capsule buy” — NST, May 19).

What benefits did Malaysians reap from the last Angkasawan progra-mme? The right to brag about a mission to a place where a rhesus monkey had ventured before?

The government should get its priorities right.

Invest in educating nurses on how to be more compassionate, invest in hiring competent and skilful doctors and in better life-saving equipment but not in a Soyuz-TMA 11 capsule.

If one insists that the angkasawan programme is for the future of our children and this country, I say to you: any poor soul that dies in this country due to the lack of medical amenities might have well been our future.

My aunt and the many more citizens who suffer her fate are paying the price of misplaced priorities.

Source: NST – May 27, 2008