Petra Jaya Hospital in design process

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POLICE DAY BABIES: Dr Abdul Rahim (left) takes a closer look at the newborn of Emah Tegong, 35, as Faiferra Faihul (right), carrying hers, and Acryl Sani look on during the police delegation’s visit to SGH. — Bernama photo

KUCHING: The long-delayed Petra Jaya Hospital is currently in its design process and will be up for tender once the design has been finalised.

“We are currently waiting for the hospital designs and have already appointed a consultant on the matter,” said state health deputy director Dr Chin Zin Hing.

According to him, the hospital, which is expected to be completed within three years, will be developed on a 40-acre site next to the Sarawak Health Department in Petra Jaya.

“The hospital complex will comprise 300-bed accommodation with all the basic specialist services to cater to patients within the Petra Jaya vicinity,” he told reporters at a press conference here yesterday.

Earlier, Dr Chin and Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) director Dr Abdul Rahim Abdullah received a delegation from Sarawak police contingent, led by state police commissioner DCP Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, on their official visit to SGH in conjunction with the country’s 205th Police Day Anniversary celebration.

Asked whether the new hospital would reduce overcrowding at SGH, he said: “It will definitely help with the congestion but not solve the problem entirely because SGH is a tertiary hospital and we have a lot of referral patients coming in from other hospitals throughout the state.”

Sharing the same sentiment, Dr Rahim pointed out that the issue of overcrowding could not be overcome anytime soon.

“If we take into consideration the population of Kuching, which is around 700,000 together with the number of beds at SGH and the Cardiac Centre in Kota Samarahan, which totals to more than 1,000 beds, as well as bed accommodation in private sector hospitals, there is still a shortage of beds,” he said.

“As a referral hospital, we take in patients from community hospitals from as far as Lawas and Limbang and even from Miri and Sibu, when the hospitals there do not have the specialists or facility for the patients,” Dr Rahim added.

On the development of a multi-storey car park at SGH, he disclosed that the project had been brought to the attention of the Prime Minister’s Department.

“We are looking to start this project within this year provided there’s no glitch,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Rahim revealed that the hospital was looking to increase its number of subspecialties to 44 by 2020.

“At the moment, we have 33 disciplines at the hospitals while five years ago, we only had about 18 disciplines.

“By increasing the number of disciplines, we hope that within eight years, locals no longer need to travel to west Malaysia or other countries to seek treatment,” he said.

Also present at the event were state deputy police commissioner SAC Datuk Law Hong Soon and Family of Police Association (Perkep) chairwoman Datin Zaitun Mohd Isa.