Published on: Daily Express / Thursday, December 17, 2009
http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=69541
Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government is committed to ensure Sabah gets the best healthcare service by readying 2,296 hospital beds in the State Capital within 30 months.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the various actions taken by the Federal Government, especially the renovation of the Sabah Medical Centre (SMC), would also see the establishment of the Sabah Heart Centre, expected to be fully operational next year.
He said that with 2,296 beds, the State Capital's hospital beds per population ratio would be drastically lowered to 1:348 (bed for people), which is better than the national average of 1:530.
Presently, the ratio here is 1:754 based on the city's present population of more than 800,000.
Liow said the city's bed-for-people ratio would still be better than the national average even if its population should rise to one million within two years, that is 1:435. He said the Ministry was renovating the existing empty floors to add 284 beds to the existing 171 beds after officially taking over SMC on Nov. 3 this year.
The renovation works costing RM90 million at SMC, which would be referred to as Queen Elizabeth Hospital II, as an administrative term of reference within the next two years, are expected to be completed in eight months.
More beds, he said, were expected with the completion of the Twin Tower block of the QEH within two and half years' time plus another 200 additional beds (to the existing 298 beds) at the Likas Hospital (Mother and Child Hospital) where a Cancer Centre is expected to be completed by end of next year.
"This increase will be more than adequate to cater to the bed loss due to the decanting of the structurally unsafe Podium and the Tower Block of Queen Elizabeth Hospital," he said during a visit to the SMC, Wednesday.
"Besides this, there will be an upgrading of the Accident and Emergency Department, Operating Theatres and On Call Complex to enhance and expand services," he said.
The establishment of the Sabah Heart Centre would comprise two Invasive Cath. Labs, two cardiac operating theatres, 10-bed cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CICU) and 10-bed coronary care unit (CCU) and a cardiac ward.
"These facilities shall provide the much needed invasive cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery for heart patients in Sabah," he said, adding the Ministry had for the past one year been training a team of allied health personnel to staff the Heart Centre.
"Since the beginning of this year, two interventional cardiologists have been sent to Sabah to set up the service. In the near future a cardiothoracic surgeon and an anaesthetist will be sent to join the heart team here," he said.
Liow also announced that the QEH heart team had successfully implanted a pacemaker on a patient who suffered from abnormal heart rhythm, using the existing cath. lab in the hospital on Nov. 12 this year.
To date, the Ministry had fully funded 12 pacemaker procedures and that recently the Government had further committed an additional RM2 million for consumables, drugs and devices to ensure the Sabah Heart Centre is fully operational in 2010.
A multi-storey car park with capacity for 327 bays would be built within the site to ease parking shortage and two additional lifts would also be built to cope with the anticipated increase in number of patients in the building.
"Currently, surgical sub-speciality services are slowly reintegrated in this hospital, which includes general surgery, orthopaedics, neuro-surgery, urology, plastic surgery and eye surgery," he said.
On the complaints of lack of operating theatres, Liow said three modular operating theatres would be installed while 15 operating tables are expected to be ready once the QEH Tower block project is completed.
He said the Tower block project, which will cost about RM300 million had already been finalised and works are expected to start next year after tenders are called.
The project is inclusive of the demolition of the structurally unsafe Podium, he said.
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