Sapp: Bad idea to convert old building into hospital

Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) has criticized the proposal of taking over the deserted Wisma Khidmat by the state government to convert it into a general hospital as unwise and not practical.

Announcing the proposal on Monday, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said funds from the RM60 billion second stimulus package would be utilised for the purpose.

Sapp information chief Chong Pit Fah described the proposal as ill-conceived, short-sighted and flip-flop.

“Wisma Khidmat has been vacated for years for reasons best known to its owners. In the first place, the building was not designed for the purpose of a hospital and is located in a very awkward location with very limited parking spaces”, he said in a statement.

The building is more than 30 years old and many of its steel structure could have been badly corroded by chlorine content and no longer safe for occupation. It was built at the time when sea sand was widely used for building construction, Chong added.

“This is exactly how the QEH (Queen Elizabeth Hospital) problems came about. It would be a high price Sabahans have to pay if the same problems were to happen 10 or 20 years later, after the conversion and commission of the Khidmat Building,” the Sapp leader said in voicing the party’s concern over the suitability of the building itself.

He also described the Sabah government’s decision as flip-flopping. “One day, they are talking of building a brand new hospital, and next they plan to buy and convert a 30-year-old building into a hospital.”

He questioned the basis of the decision and urged policy makers not to make decisions solely based on political consideration.

Sabah has health issues

Chong said: “Leave the specialist work to the professionals, in this case the medical planners in the Ministry of Health. Politicians should restrain from getting involved in areas which require expert knowledge.’

Chong, also the Sapp Kepayan central liaison committee chairperson, urged the government and the Health Ministry to take what he called a holistic and professional approach in handling the healthcare problems affecting the people of Sabah.

He also censured the health minister for playing down the current health crisis facing Sabahans, by saying that it was not as bad as what was described by the opposition in the state.

“But, on the other hand, he (the health minister) and several top officials from the ministry flew into Sabah on a national public holiday to conduct an emergency meeting on the issue with the chief minister and his entire cabinet,” he said.

Chong doubted there would have been such swift response on the issue had it not been for Sapp's continuous monitoring of the issue and its repeated calls to both the federal and state governments to act on it.