A company which provides hospital support services is under probe by the Health Ministry, following reports of unsatisfactory service since early this month.

The minister, Dr S Subramaniam said the probe, among others, would determine whether the company had fulfilled its contractual responsibilities.

He said this followed reports on problems affecting the Sungai Buloh Hospital operation theatres, as well as sanitation and cleanliness issues involving a number of government hospitals in Selangor.

"Under the contract, there are clauses that allow us to take action (if warranted)," he told reporters at a Ponggal celebration at SJK(C) Sungai Way in Petaling Jaya today.

However, Subramaniam cautioned that it would be unfair to blame the company without conducting an investigation first.

A fire involving the hospital's Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) early this month had caused 12 operating theatres (OT) to be temporarily shut down.

Sungai Buloh Hospital director Dr Khalid Ibrahim told Bernama that repair works were expected to be ready by Jan 21.

He said the 12 operating theatres were shut down for safety reasons, adding that surgey cases had been moved to six day-care surgery OTs where the UPS was up and running.

Khalid also noted that elective surgeries had been rescheduled and that no case was referred to other hospitals, so far.

He further explained that with regard to cleanliness issue, the said company had taken steps to resolve the matter by bringing in a new contractor.

At today's event organised by the Selangor Welfare and Human Development Association, 80 senior citizens and 20 physically-challenged people received hampers and cash worth RM100 each.

Meanwhile, student G Sritaran, who obtained 7A's and 1B in the Penilaian Menengah Rendah examination, received RM1,000 from the association, in appreciation of his achievement.

- Bernama