SARAWAK agreed to allocate RM5 million to the Ministry of Health to build a temporary annex at the 284-bed Bintulu hospital to increase its patient capacity.

The funds would also be used to purchase specialist equipment and to improve the information system of the Bintulu division Health Department.

Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said the hospital, already overstretched by Covid-19 cases, is further strained by having to take in patients from outlying districts that have no specialist services.

“The Bintulu hospital is overstretched because patients in other districts, like Belaga and Mukah, are being referred here,” he said in a press conference.

He said doctors who attended the Covid-19 situational briefing this morning had sounded a warning that the hospital could not cope with new admissions if no new beds were added.

The chief minister said to speed up the construction of the temporary building and pre-fabricated components utilising the industrialised building system (IBS) would be employed.

Apart from the building, the hospital would also receive RM870,000 for the purchase of specialised equipment.

On top of that, the Bintulu office of the state Health Department was allocated nearly RM500,000 to improve its information system.

The Bintulu Division Disaster Management Committee, however, had been allocated the largest chunk of the financial assistance – RM3.66 million – to be used to curb the spread of the pandemic in one of the state’s hot spots.

Abang Johari said the pandemic this year, up till the end of May, would cost the state government RM151 million.

The cost included in keeping Sarawakians returning to the state in hotel quarantine and Covid-19 testing.

He said it was only RM90 million last year.

The costs do not include the various financial assistance packages, known as Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS), which the state government rolled out to assist the people, petty traders and SMEs severely impacted by the pandemic. – May 19, 2021.