THE Health Ministry has told contractors doing work on 23 hospitals and clinics nationwide they face the chop if they do not complete their projects on schedule, said Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The health minister said these contractors have been lumped into the “red zone” and are on the verge of being axed.

“Those in the red zone are 23 (contracts). At least nine hospitals are involved.

“They are all across the country but mostly in the peninsula,” he told reporters at the sidelines of Healthcare Forum 2018 in Kuala Lumpur today.

Dzulkefly said he presented the matter to the cabinet yesterday and the main focus is currently on Petra Jaya Hospital in Kuching.

A discussion was held in Kuching recently and the consensus was to terminate the contract.

“We all agreed that we can no longer delay the completion and we are giving warnings to all contractors that we cannot accept terrible work like these because the people are the ones who have to bear with the delay,” he added.

The contract to build Petra Jaya Hospital, which cost RM495 million, was awarded to Zecon Bhd.

The project was initiated in May 2013 and it should have been completed by November 2016.

Another project concerns Rembau Hospital and Dr Dzulkefly has gone to the ground to meet the contractors.

“If they are still at the same stage after warnings and serious reprimand, we would not have any other choice.

“For now, we have only decided on Petra Jaya.”

Delays on Rembau Hospital cost the government RM8 million.

The original cost of construction in September 2013 was RM96 million but the delay escalated the price tag to RM104 million. – July 5, 2018.