KUALA LUMPUR: Eight government clinics across the country have put patients’ lives at risk because their staff used sterilisation equipment that had not been maintained for up to eight years, the Auditor-General’s report revealed on Monday.

The certificate-of-fitness for eight autoclave machines — pressure chambers used to sterilise clinic equipment and supplies — at eight Nur Sejahtera Clinics had lapsed between three and 100 months, said the first series of the 2014 audit report.

It said legal action could be taken against the National Population and Family Development Board (NPFDB), which manages the Nur Sejahtera Clinics.

“An audit visit to eight clinics found that the certificate of fitness for eight autoclave machines had expired between three and 100 months. This is because irresponsible officers did not check the expiry date of the certificate of fitness.

“In the audit’s opinion; the NPFDB’s failure to renew the certificate of fitness could cause it to face legal action because it had endangered the lives of the users,” the report added.

The clinics are located in Raub, Pahang; Nusa Jaya, Johor; Selayang, Selangor; Kuala Kangsar, Perak; Shah Alam, Selangor; Ampang, Selangor; Klang, Selangor, and Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 7, 2015.