Lawas Hospital relocates next week
LAWAS: The Ministry of Health will start relocating the office and wards of Lawas Hospital next week to make way for the construction of the new hospital at the present site.
The relocation will start from the rear where the office and equipments are located and this would be carried out in stages, said District Medical officer Dr Lee Yi Meng at the Lawas District full council meeting yesterday chaired by Mohd Supaih Hamdan, who is Lawas District Officer.
He said this in response to the query on the delay of the hospital project by Councillor Awangku Jinal Abedin Pengiran Jawa , who is also PBB Youth Zone 8 chairman, who said the local population are frustrated by the long delay and wanted to know the status of the approved project.
The new Lawas Hospital project has been approved since the 8th Malaysia Plan, at the same time with the new Sarikei Hospital project which has already been completed and in service for the past decade.
Councilor Jinal had called for the Lawas Hospital project which was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the state election in April last year, to start without delay.
This involved the integrity of a government ministry, and the approval was made in the time of the then Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the delay has frustrated the 40,000 people in Lawas district.
The ministry has wrangled over the location of the new hospital, with the state government approving sites, but the hospital deciding to stick to the old site and the state government responded by allocating the surrounding land of the old site for the project.
The construction at the old site presented more problems as the old buildings had to be torn down first and wards relocated to a temporary site pending the completion of the new facilities.
Shophouses in town have been identified as potential site for conversion into temporary wards during this construction period.
Locals has objected to the ministry’s initial decision to send expecting mothers to the nearest hospital in Sipitang, Sabah during the construction period, saying their children would end up as Sabahans instead of Sarawakians in the classification by the National Registration Department.
Meanwhile, Dr Lee told the meeting that serious cases requiring specialist attention are usually referred by Lawas Hospital to the bigger and more equipped hospitals in Miri or Kota Kinabalu.
The hospital currently has 46 beds to cater to the district’s needs.
On the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), he said 34 cases had been recorded by the hospital as of yesterday.
He advised the local community to take preventive measures and ensure personal hygiene and washing of hands and feet to combat exposure to this cyclical disease which peaks every three years in the state.
Dr Lee also disclosed that the district is also facing the threat of dengue fever, and urged the local community to co-operate to get rid of breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/03/21/lawas-hospital-relocates-next-week/#ixzz1siUY8kMc
Tiada ulasan: