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'Johor hospitals very packed, and new facilities still unapproved'
Published:  May 31, 2016 1:29 PM
Updated: 5:38 AM

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching wants the Health Ministry to explain whether it would still proceed with the Johor state government’s proposal to construct new government hospitals.

Back in 2014, she said, Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin announced that the state government had applied for the construction of the two new 'Sultanah Aminah Dua' hospitals on Health Ministry-owned land in Tampoi and Pasir Gudang.

Teo said the three existing hospitals in Johor – Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru (HSA), Hospital Sultan Ismail and Hospital Temenggong Sri Maharaja Tun Ibrahim Kulai – are no longer able to accommodate the ever-growing number of patients in the Iskandar Malaysia region.

Teo raised this matter during the last session of Parliament, which ended last Thursday. She said this in a press statement issued today.

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam had said that the bed usage in HSA has reached 93 percent and that the hospital’s facilities needed to be upgraded.

There have been efforts to upgrade the HSA and reconstruct parts of its facilities, in stages since 2005 till now, and this would continue as the needs require, Subramaniam added in his response to Teo.

According to the Health Ministry, three projects have been completed at HSA under the 10th Malaysia Plan, at an overall cost of RM30,073,840, including the provision of Brainsuite facilities for the HSA Neurosurgery Department.

A further five projects have been approved and are currently in the development stages, including a new building for the HSA Pathology Department, where a detailed design is at present being finalised and is expected to enter the tender stage before the end of 2016, the ministry added.

The ministry also said eight upgrading projects on a smaller scale, worth RM2,272,550, were approved last year.

Teo retorted by highlighting the privatisation procedure that the Health Ministry planned to undertake for its future developments.

"In the first rolling plan for the 11th Malaysia Plan, the Health Ministry had also proposed to construct the Pusat Rawatan Harian (ACC) and Kompleks Pakar Hospital Sultanah Aminah via a privatisation procedure or 'land swap' on Health Ministry-owned land in Tampoi.

"The Health Ministry has already presented the privatisation proposal documentation to the Public-Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) on March 4 for consideration," the DAP parliamentarian said.

Teo expressed support for the Johor state government's move because she said the free treatment provided by government hospitals would help ease the burden of the Johor people in particular, who are troubled by the increasing cost of living.

"There are many private hospitals in the  Iskandar Malaysia region now. It's time the federal government builds two more government hospitals that can be utilised by the rakyat," she added.

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