THE Health Ministry (MOH) has taken proactive action to solve the problem of “sick” projects involving the development of health facilities in the country with close monitoring. 

Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said MOH has carried out serious monitoring through its task force on the progress of 13 “sick” projects involving health clinics, hospitals and quarters.

“The number of projects will fluctuate each month, but what is important is that every month, I will chair a development council meeting at the MOH to ensure closer monitoring is done,” he told reporters after officiating at the Rembau Hospital, which was upgraded as a minor specialist hospital.

“As an example, MOH is facing a number of ‘sick’ projects, including the Papar Hospital in Sabah, which is a project that has been delayed in construction. But with measures taken by MOH and Works Ministry, it has succeeded in reducing the delay.”

Earlier in his speech, Khairy said upgrading the Rembau Hospital was possibly his “last” gift as the Rembau MP.

He said MOH added another operating room at the hospital, which is equipped with a computerised tomography scan machine at a cost of RM9 million.

He said the Rembau Hospital, which was completed on October 10, 2019, helped reduce congestion at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban.

He said the hospital enables residents in Rembau, Tampin and the surrounding areas to receive specialist treatment and it will help shorten the waiting time to receive such treatment.

He said the hospital, on 6.65ha, involved a cost of RM147 million, and medical experts from various disciplines would be stationed in phases in line with the process of upgrading the second operating theatre.

He said in addition to Rembau Hospital, several hospitals in Sabah and Sarawak will also be upgraded to become state hospitals, major specialist hospitals and minor specialist hospitals.

Khairy said MOH has basically agreed to provide free wi-fi services to customers in all hospitals across the country with Rembau Hospital as the starting point.

He also said MOH is looking at immediate steps to reduce the waiting time at all health facilities in the country.

“This week, I received a briefing on the waiting time for important procedures such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan, CT scan and so on. MOH will look at immediate steps that can be taken so that the waiting time, especially for diagnostic scans or surgery and cancer treatment, can be reduced,” he added. – Bernama, September 23, 2022.