KUCHING, Jan 31 — State Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo today urged the state government to designate the Rajah Charles Brooke Memorial Hospital (RCBMH) as a permanent dedicated medical centre for the treatment of patients suffering from any contagious diseases such Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

She said the hospital at Km13 Kuching-Penrissen Road was the best suited for such purposes as it had been used for the treatment of the now eradicated-leprosy cases.

"The hospital is still operational, with a few residents who had been cured of the disease, but who still stay there as they have been isolated from their communities and cannot care for themselves,” Soo said.

She said the hospital has a ward and an outpatient clinic, and can instantly function as a virus hospital to manage the coronavirus threat.

"Sarawak has to strengthen its vigilance and disease surveillance as our hospitals are already overcrowded and lacking medical equipment and protective gear,” she added.

"RCBMH can be a permanent hospital dedicated to manage any global health threat into the future,” she added.

Soo urged all Sarawakians to be on the alert, to practise personal hygiene and be vigilant at all times.

"Good health is the first line of defence against any form of virus threat,and Sarawak must never let our guard down against any global health threat,” she stressed.

She said she is convinced that China is able to control the coronavirus outbreak as the Chinese government had moved swiftly to put in control measures that had been far-reaching and unprecedented in history.

"The urgency lies in supporting lower-income countries which have weak health systems, in a global fight to prevent the virus from reaching their shores and to infect the population,” she added.

"With climate change affecting the world’s weather patterns and landscapes, and bio-engineering experimentation, old and new viruses may emerge in the near future, even if we are able to eradicate today’s virus threat,” Soo said.

She noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared 2019-nCoV a global emergency as more than 200 patients have died from the outbreak.