Materia Medica Malaysiana

Kinrara hospital is no more!

KUALA LUMPUR: The 95 Kinrara Armed Forces Hospital in Puchong, which treated thousands of military personnel for more than half a century, is no more.
The 55-year-old hospital, built by the British Army, ceased operations on Wednesday, despite pleas from many servicemen to preserve the oldest military hospital in the country.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed that the Kinrara Hospital officially ceased operations on Wednesday. It was initially supposed to stop operations on Aug 1, last year.
“The patients have all been transferred to the Science and Technology Research Institute of Defence (STRIDE) building in Jalan Padang Tembak, pending the completion of the Mindef hospital,’’ he said.
The closure of the Kinrara Hospital has upset many ex-servicemen, and the public from the neighbouring housing estates, as it was the only Government hospital where they could receive specialist treatment without having to make an appointment.
Sources said practically all the specialist clinics at the hospital have closed down and skeletal staff are manning the building now.
“The doctors and nurses report for work dutifully but have absolutely nothing to do. Whatever minimal service they were providing before has also ground to a halt and they have to turn away patients,” they added.
The Malay Mail had, on May 28 last year, reported that the millions spent on highly-trained medical specialists and equipment were going to waste due to the premature “phasing out’’ of their services, in view of the hospital’s impending closure.
As a result, the highly qualified specialists who were trained at between RM6 million and RM8 million per person by the Armed Forces, were reduced to providing treatment which ordinary GPs could perform.
Some of the specialists were transferred to the Terendak and Lumut hospitals.
Demoralised by the situation, a number of the specialists and ancillary staff left the service.
It is believed that the move to close the Kinrara hospital was to facilitate the sale of the prime land in Puchong to a private developer for about RM200 million.
Under the deal, the proceeds from the sale were to be pumped into the new Genting Klang Hospital, which is scheduled for completion in a year or two.
However, it is learnt that following the uproar over the impending closure of the hospital, the developer backed out.
Sources said Mindef officials are now unsure about what to do with the land now that Kinrara Hospital is no longer functioning.
”It is such a waste. Had they thought this thing through, they would have saved this heritage and upgraded it instead of spending an additional RM5 million for a temporary facility at the STRIDE building which lacks facilities as it is not designed for a hospital at all,’’ they said.
They said the Kinrara hospital also had some of the best equipment and facilities which even other Government hospitals do not have. It was also a training ground for medical personnel of the Armed Forces.
It is learnt that a contractor has been engaged to transfer the equipment from the hospital to the temporary facility at STRIDE.
The Kinrara hospital used to operate like a full-fledged public hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and a staff strength of 180.
It had a wide range of specialist services including orthopaedic, ear, nose and throat and obstetrics and gynaecology clinics.