Materia Medica Malaysiana

Plans for 11 new hospitals deferred

The Health Ministry has deferred the construction of 11 hospitals scheduled to begin this year to cut costs.

Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said hospitals currently under construction would not be affected.

It is learnt that the decision was taken following cost-cutting measures by the Treasury to achieve a balanced budget. Dr Chua did not name the hospitals affected by the move.

"We will not cut down on our priorities such as basic essential services, training and life-saving equipment, but the development of new hospitals will be reviewed," he said.

He said the construction of hospitals would probably be carried out under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Replying to questions in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, the ministry's parliamentary secretary, Lee Kah Choon, had said that although the ministry was implementing the cost-cutting measures, it would not compromise on the quality of medicine prescribed.

On an unrelated matter, Dr Chua said the ministry had until September to decide which companies would be awarded tenders to supply drugs and medical equipment to hospitals under its jurisdiction.

He dismissed a report in a Malay daily yesterday which said that the contracts were supposed to have been given out at the end of last year.

Dr Chua said Pharmaniaga, a subsidiary of the UEM Group, was responsible for submitting the list of potential suppliers to the ministry.

"We will then decide who gets the tenders based on quality and pricing. The list is reviewed every three years and our review for this year is expected to be completed in September.

"So far, 45.6 per cent of the concession has already been given to Bumiputera suppliers. Government policy states that not less than 60 per cent of the concession must be awarded to Bumiputeras," he said.

Yesterday's report stated that the ministry had short-listed 17 Bumiputera companies with a total contract value of only RM52.6 million, a measly 18 per cent of the whole concession worth RM336 million.

Dr Chua refuted the figures, saying Bumiputera suppliers had actually received contracts worth RM181 million. The pharmaceutical company has a 15-year contract which ends in May 2009 to supply and distribute pharmaceutical and medical products to hospitals under the Health Ministry.

Dr Chua explained that not all companies which put in a bid for the contracts would receive them. "The companies have to be patient as we need some time to decide on who to award the contracts to. It is not easy as we have over 600 types of drugs and equipment to look into," he said.