Sarawak gets 3 more hospitals

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Work on Lawas Hospital has started while those for Petra Jaya, Sri Aman in planning stage

Dr Jerip (second right) and Malaysian Society of Wound Care Professionals president Dr Harikrishna K R Nair (third right) take a tour of the booths lined up for the conference. — Photo by Grace Kong

KUCHING: Three more hospitals are coming up in Sarawak, namely in Lawas, Sri Aman, and Petra Jaya.

Assistant Public Health Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil said construction of Lawas Hospital was present ly at the second phase, while those for Sri Aman and Petra Jaya were still in the planning stage.

“We are now thinking of Lawas Hospital, which I think is in stage two now. For (the proposed) Sri Aman Hospital and Petra Jaya Hospital, these are on-going.

“Plans for some rural clinics are also on-going,” he told a press conference yesterday after closing the Transborneo Wound Congress 2014, which is organised by the Malaysian Society of Wound Care Professionals.

Dr Jerip, however, did not elaborate on the three hospital projects.

Earlier, he said the state government was trying to enhance the facilities in the current crop of hospitals and clinics.

“What we have in mind is to add facilities. Hospitals such as the Sarawak General Hospital, Sibu Hospital, and Miri Hospital lacked certain facilities. The same goes for rural and district clinics.

“At the moment, our major focus is on improving the facilities of our major hospitals. This is our focus for the next one to two years.”

Asked how much these upgrades would cost, Dr Jerip said, “I don’t have the figure.”

SGH director Dr Chin Zin Hing, who was also present, chipped in, “The amount needed is quite big. In fact, we double the request all the time.”