PRIME MINISTER Najib Razak today announced the construction of a RM652 million training hospital for Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) which he said will improve healthcare and education services for Sabahans.

It will help Sabah match the pace of development in Peninsular Malaysia, he said in Kota Kinabalu today.

“If we want to lift the country’s image, it must be through its education system. This is why we are focusing on this effort. So Sabah can eliminate the development gap with Peninsular Malaysia.

“The construction of a university hospital in Sabah would also help the country to improve the healthcare system, as well as leverage of Malaysia’s position as one of the five best nations with the best healthcare in the world, according to International Living,” he said during the launch today.

Among those present were Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, Deputy Higher Education Minister Mary Yap Kain Ching and UMS Board Chairman Zaki Azmi..

The hospital in UMS will be built on 60 acres of land on the university campus and is scheduled for completion in 2021.

It will have 400 beds, including a critical ward, multi-disciplinary ward, 34 operation theatres and 12 delivery suites.

The hospital will also be equipped with a medical student and nursing learning centre, orthodontic specialist care, 24-hour emergency and trauma service, student health check-up, pharmacy, diagnostic lab, a radiology centre, a dialysis centre and a physiotherapy centre.

In his address, Najib reiterated his commitment to develop Sabah’s education system with 120 new schools under construction across the state under a RM1 billion allocation which he proposed under Budget 2018.

“I was also the man who made sure Sabah will have its university when I was the education minister in 1995. In my visits to Sabah recently, I realised there too many schools in Sabah and Sarawak were dilapidated and old.

“It is hard for Sabah and Sarawak students to achieve their potential if the schools are old. This was why I approved a massive budget for Sabah so students are not left behind,” said Najib.

He said the newly completed SMK and SK PekanTelipok secondary and primary schools were built at a cost of RM31 million and RM18 million, respectively.

Najib said more than 90% of students in Malaysia presently enjoy subsidised education at primary and tertiary education and also provided loans through the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN).

He also said Putrajaya had charted plans to ensure Malaysia’s education system would be at par with the international standards based on the aspirations of young Malaysians as found in the TN50 (National Transformation) meetings recently. – March 2, 2018.