Works Minister S Samy Vellu and senior politician Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) have agreed to pay a visit to the Temerloh Hospital together in a bid to prove each other wrong in their respective statements on the hospital.

In Parliament today, Samy Vellu has challenged Tan to substantiate his claim that the multi-million ringgit Temerloh Hospital would pose a threat to its patients with the hospital's structural and equipment shortcomings.

The minister spent nearly an hour replying to over 25 questions raised by Tan pertaining to the hospital during the Kepong MP's debate on the Royal address earlier.

Samy Vellu denied all allegations made by Tan including, contract documentation, lack of human resource training and sub-contractor records, as well as an effective monitoring process over the project.

Not satisfied with the minister's reply, the DAP leader continued to raise various questions pertaining to the problematic hospital project.

Samy Vellu then invited Tan to pay a visit to the Temerloh Hospital with him next week.

"All these allegations must be confirmed by the experts. I challenge you to bring your experts and I'll bring my experts to see whose claims are right," he said. Tan agreed.

Tan had earlier visited the hospital on March 17 and had a briefing from the hospital's turnkey contractor Projek Hospital Temerloh Sendirian Berhad (PHTSB), a Public Works Department representative KL Tan and the hospital's pro-tem director Dr Bahari Che Awang.

The minister said that work on the hospital, costing RM480 million, has started prior to the possession of the site after consent was given by the Finance Ministry to ensure that work could be completed "immediately".

However, the project which was scheduled for completion on Sept 6 last year was later extended to Jan 14 this year due to the Fire and Rescue Department's request for additional facilities.

Lively debate

A major bone of contention over the Temerloh Hospital was the government's issuance of the Certificate of Practical Completion (CPC) to contractors of the hospital while crucial work are yet to be done.

Samy Vellu's winding-up also liven up the atmosphere in the House when he crossed sword with opposition MPs several times.

At one juncture, when Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng told Tan to summarise his speech when the latter read out contents from a few documents, Samy Vellu responded: "Never mind, until tomorrow morning also not a problem, my wife is not at home".

To another suggestion by the deputy speaker to invite Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) to join the Barisan Nasional, the minister replied: "I can't do it here, she is sitting in front me, we must ask her secretly outside the House".

He made the remark after saying that Fong was gaining more support from the BN backbenchers after the Batu Gajah MP suggested that the toll should be abolished because the highway could not effectively reduce the travelling time on the road.