Materia Medica Malaysiana

All government hospitals to get hi-tech facilities

KUALA LUMPUR, Sun. - Government hospitals nationwide can be expected to give private hospitals a run for their money from next year, with state-of-the-art equipment on the cards.
A large part of the RM24.5 billion allocation for the Health Ministry sought under the Ninth Malaysia Plan will go towards upgrading state and district hospitals.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek (picture) said the emphasis would shift from building hospitals to installing sophisticated equipment equal to what was available in private hospitals.
"The time has come for the Government to provide state- of-the-art facilities in all hospitals," he said in an interview.
Dr Chua said this was because the 124 hospitals nationwide with 32,000 beds were sufficient to meet the needs of Malaysians.
The upgrading had been planned under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, he said, but had to be postponed when emphasis was given to building new hospitals.
He said more than 50 per cent of the RM862 million allocation under the 8MP had been channelled to new hospital projects.
"This is why the ministry is shifting the emphasis to upgrading hospitals nationwide under the 9MP."
The ministry will also upgrade rural clinics and build halfway houses for mental patients.
Another priority will be to resolve the shortage of doctors, nurses and supporting healthcare staff. This would be done in stages from this year until 2020.
"I intend giving emphasis to human development programmes and training to overcome the shortage."
To this end, the ministry may outsource training programmes for nurses.
He said 10 hospitals slated for construction under the 8MP would be carried over to the new plan.
One of the priority projects will be the Rehabilitation Hospital in Cheras, which will act as a centre for training, research and education in rehabilitation and disability management. It will also provide rehabilitation for neurological disorders..