Unimas urgently needs own teaching hospital

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KOTA SAMARAHAN: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) urgently needs a teaching hospital of its own for the development of the learning and training of young doctors and nurses as well as to conduct medical research.

Unimas vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suadi said the hospital would incorporate research and practice to serve the changing needs of the local community.

“The proposed university hospital will become a classroom for physicians, nurses and other health professionals and providers where learning and research are merged to enable Sarawak to have the best healthcare training programme possible,” he told reporters yesterday after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) for staff, expertise and services exchange.

He said the plan to build a teaching hospital had been there for years but has just been waiting for implementation.

“The state and federal governments are both making efforts to build a teaching hospital in Unimas and discussions are still ongoing to find the best method to implement it,” he said.

Kadim said at the moment Unimas sent its medical students for practical training at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), Timberland Medical Centre (TMC) and now BMC.

“Today (yesterday) we are having collaboration with BMC to provide greater opportunities for our staff to do their practical training,” he said.

Meanwhile, a press release said the collaboration between Unimas’ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and BMC would enable the accreditation of the faculty as BMC would be able to provide access to its full medical, radiological and laboratory services.

“The MoU also includes cooperation to share knowledge and expertise between the two agencies.