An artist’s impression of the Hospice and Palliative Care Centre. — Image courtesy of Kuching Life Care Society
KUCHING: The construction of Kuching Life Care Society’s proposed Hospice and Palliative Care Centre (HPCC) has finally been given the greenlight after it was first mooted in 2011.
Its founder, Hung Sung Huo, said they received the letter of approval from the Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) on Tuesday (May 18) and the state Fire and Rescue Services Department (Bomba) end of last month.
“Our architect is now working on the final draft of the HPCC’s design as requested by Bomba. We anticipate the project to be awarded through an open tender in two months’ time.
“Although I cannot be certain as to when the construction of the HPCC will begin, the project will definitely kick off within this year,” he said when contacted today.
Hung said the Society came up with the idea of constructing a hospice centre in 2011 and had been organising fund-raisers since.
He said the HPCC would be built in Desa Wira, Jalan Batu Kawa here, adding that the state government alienated the land in 2014.
It took the Society some years to finalise the design and raise funds for the HPCC, which cost about RM13 million, he said.
“We submitted our application for the project to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in 2018. In May 2019, the MoH approved the project and after that, it took about six months to obtain an approval from the state Land and Survey Department
“In February last year, we submitted our application to MPP but a month later, MCO (Movement Control Order) was enforced. There was some delay in the approval due to the requirements of Bomba.
“However, we are grateful that all issues have been addressed and now the project can go ahead,” he said.
According to Hung, it should take 18 months for the project to be completed.
He said the project was likely to be finished by early 2023 if it kicks off within this year.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the Society had organised annual charity events namely a food fair and the i-Shave to solicit funds from the community.
Hung said these events had been called off for two consecutive years.
“We have not been having any fund-raisers since March last year. In the previous years, our food fair and i-Shave were capable of raising some RM1 million for the Society,” he said.
The HPCC is a three-storey building consisting of a courtyard, administration area, physiotherapy room, examination and treatment room, common facilities, leisure room, open area, patient rooms and prayer room.
It aims to provide comfort, improve quality of life, promote dignity as well as to relieve physical, emotional and spiritual suffering of patients with terminal illness.
According to World Health Organisation, palliative care is increasingly used with regard to diseases other than cancer such as chronic, progressive pulmonary disorders, renal disease, chronic heart failure, HIV/AIDS and progressive neurological conditions.