A photo taken in January this year shows the limited parking space at Sibu Hospital.
SIBU: Assistant Minister of Housing and Public Health Dr Annuar Rapaee will look into whether Sibu Hospital has available space for more parking lots to ease its parking woes.
He said the government was looking into measures to overcome the congestion, although the solution would depend on a number of factors, including land availability.
“I have to look into whether they (Sibu Hospital) have got space.
“And then, I would like to propose the private sector or the government to come up with measures in order to ease the congestion.
“But for Sibu Hospital, I was told that there is an area where we can put a parking space, which is a better way to ease this problem,” said Dr Annuar when met after officiating at ‘Majlis Ramah Tamah Aidilfitri’ 2017 organised by Kampung Nyabor Malay Club (MUC) here on Saturday night.
The Nangka assemblyman pointed out that parking in hospitals in Kuching was also a problem, but added that the government is aware of the situation.
“Over the next few weeks I will not only be briefed about problems of congestion in the hospitals in terms of parking, but also in terms of the whole health services in Sarawak.
“Some of the parking areas are being operated by private sectors.
“Whether this can be adopted in Sibu Hospital, we have to look especially regarding the availability of land in the particular area,” he said.
When asked whether a new multi-storey car park will be constructed to ease the parking woe, he figured such a move would be a good long-term move.
“To me, a multi-storey car park is better for the long term, (but) we can have a temporary measure first,” he said.
Dr Annuar mentioned that the parking problem was not only confined to Sibu Hospital, but other hospitals in the state and country as well.
“Parking space problem is not only in Sarawak hospitals but almost all over Malaysia. I worked in Serdang Hospital and there was also problem with parking (that) time.
During a recent press conference, Sibu Hospital director Dr Ngian Hie Ung told reporters that the existing 600 parking bays at the hospital were acutely insufficient.
According to Dr Ngian, the hospital has 2,000 staff and roughly half are on duty at any one time.