CYBERJAYA, Sept 25 — There are five to six ’sick’ hospitals that failed to be completed on schedule due to certain factors, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.
“Some of the hospitals are ’a little sick’, some are ‘very sick’ and some in the process of ‘treatment’,” he said in his speech at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Cyberjaya Hospital project, here, today.
The minister said, learning lessons from the delay in the construction of Shah Alam Hospital, he wanted the construction of the RM475 million Cyberjaya Hospital to be completed on schedule, which is in November 2020.
He said in the case of Shah Alam Hospital, the ministry had to spend an additional RM60 million for the construction of the hospital which was delayed for four years when it was supposed to be completed in 2011.
Dr Subramaniam also said that the allocation of RM23 billion for the Health Ministry in the 2017 Budget was insufficient to provide health services to the people due to the rising costs of medical care.
He hoped that Treasury secretary-general, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who was also present at the event, would propose to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to increase the allocation in the upcoming budget.
Meanwhile, director-general of Health, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry received an additional budget allocation of between 10 and 15 per cent annually.
He said the number of people receiving outpatient treatment last year increased to 55 million compared to 45 million in 2015.
“The number of hospitalised patients also increased to more than 100,000 last year,” he said. — Bernama
