Parit Buntar Hospital To Open Its Doors In Sept, Benefitting 73,000 Residents

PARIT BUNTAR, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- The Parit Buntar Hospital, which is expected to commence operations on Sept 3, is set to benefit about 73,000 residents in the surrounding area, said Deputy Minister of Health Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni.

He added that the hospital will provide various services, including general medicine, general surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as orthopaedics.

"This (construction) project, approved with a cost of RM173.3 million under the Third Rolling Plan of the 10th Malaysia Plan, encompasses the contract cost as well as the cost of medical and non-medical equipment and was completed on July 23.

"The conventionally-built project involved the construction of six blocks of three-storey buildings with a 76-bed ward capacity,” he said when met at the Parit Buntar Hospital handing-over ceremony here today.

Also present were Public Works Department (JKR) director-general Datuk Roslan Ismail and state Human Resources, Health, Indian Community Affairs and National Integration Committee chairman A. Sivanesan.

Lukanisman said every unit at the new hospital has wider, more comfortable and conducive spaces for the comfort of the staff and the public.

Meanwhile, he said the ministry will tighten its monitoring of contractors to address the issue of delays in the construction of health facility projects nationwide.

He added that the ministry and JKR have also met to decide on the appropriate solutions to overcome the issue.

"So far, we follow the advice of JKR by providing the LAD (Liquidated Ascertained Damages) to contractors. We also aggressively monitor projects that are deemed ailing projects.

"We do not deny that several projects have been delayed. However, the process of completing these projects certainly takes time, and there are also other elements causing these delays,” he said, citing bureaucracy, land issues and workforce constraints as some of the causes.

-- BERNAMA