Baru Bian
KUCHING: Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian said he was shocked and disappointed to learn of the chaining of the Lawas Health Office by the landlord for failure to settle the rental for 30 months.
“It appears that the situation with the Lawas Hospital had not been fully disclosed. A 30-month arrears is really too long and I am surprised that the landlord had been patient for so long.
“The ‘agreement and documentation error’ cited by the Lawas District Health Officer cannot be accepted as a valid reason, as one cannot expect that such a problem would remain unsolved for almost three years,” he said in a press statement today.
Baru, who is also Selangau MP, said he was glad that the Sarawak Health Director Dr Jamilah Hashim had responded with some clarification on the outstanding payments.
“The new Lawas Hospital has been plagued by problems and delays since the government approved a budget of RM121 million for the construction in 2011, which was expected to have been completed within three years.
“One cannot help but conclude that the previous government’s mismanagement of resources has caused this problem in Lawas. We had heard how the public hospitals did not have enough money to buy adequate supply of medicines so we should not be surprised that there isn’t enough money to pay rent.”
Baru said he was informed in State Legislative Assembly (DUN) in 2013 that the rental for the four shoplots to house the temporary hospital is RM23,000 per month.
“It would be good for the Health Officer to assure the public that the rental payment for the shoplots is up to date.”
According to him, the people of Lawas have had to put up with inadequate health facilities for so long, with the alternative hospitals being so far away in Miri and Kota Kinabalu.
“It was completely irresponsible of the previous government to allow this situation to drag on for such an extended period.”
In noting that the new government has a lot of work to do to clean up the mess of the Barisan Nasional (BN), Baru said once he has a clearer picture of the problems occurring in the temporary Lawas hospital and the construction of the new hospital, he will endeavour to bring them up with the Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.