Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called for several new hemodialysis machines to be sent to the Sungai Buloh Hospital as soon as possible.

Najib said this was because the government was aware that the number of existing hemodialysis machines at Sungai Buloh Hospital was insufficient to meet the needs of kidney patients.

"I have been made to understand that many patients with kidney failure have to wait for a long time before receiving their hemodialysis treatment at government hospitals," he said in his latest blog post tonight.

The directive was made after the Prime Minister paid a visit to the hospital's hemodialysis unit this afternoon.

He explained that the issue arose because there were over 2.5 million kidney patients in Malaysia, and this had led to a high demand for treatment at government hospitals.

Najib said he was confident that the measure would be beneficial to the patients who needed it.