Materia Medica Malaysiana

New SMC is a 'hospital of the future'

Kota Kinabalu: The new Sabah Medical Centre (SMC) is a "hospital of the future" and is comparable to some of the top private hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.
Resource and Information Technology Development Minister, Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai, was told of this when he visited the site of the new eight-storey complex along Jalan Damai here.
Briefing Dr Yee who is also Kota Kinabalu MP, SMC Chairman Dr Tsue Fui Loong said the RM150 million hospital would have modern medical equipment which are currently not found in any hospital in the region.
One of them is the linear accelerator, a scanning machine used for external bean radiation treatments for cancer patients.
Its unique feature lies in its ability to deliver a uniform dose of high-energy x-ray to destroy cancer cells while sparing the surrounding normal tissue.
The new SMC, scheduled to be operational this June, would have 120 beds to start with, and has room for expansion to 300 beds.
SMC was initiated by the State Government in 1988 and lost some RM33 million before it was privatised.
A management buy-out facilitated a smart deal with the Ministry of Health, which is developing it into the city's second hospital after Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The new facilities would specialise in pediatrics and gynaecology.