Hostel facility for visitors of Penang Hospital

Star: PENANG: The pathetic sight of visitors sleeping along corridors, under the stairwell and in the surau at the Penang Hospital is now a thing of the past.
Outstation folks visiting sick relatives can now stay at the hospital’s former dental hostel, which has been converted into sleeping quarters for visitors.
After hitting a snag for two years due to bureaucracy and red tape, the free hostel Balai Pelawat Sri Tanjung is finally operational.
The 44-bed hostel, which is located within the hospital compound, is believed to be the first of its kind provided by a public hospital in the country.
Hospital director Dr Zaininah Mohd Zain said about 550 people, mostly from outstation, had stayed at the double-storey hostel since it opened its doors on Oct 11 last year.
“Visitors are allowed to sleep at the hostel as long as they have a relative warded at the hospital,” she said yesterday.
Dr Zaininah said the hostel service had helped ease the financial burden of lower-income families as they did not have to stay at hotels, which were also far away from the hospital.
“Apart from visitors, our outstation cancer patients and their families can also stay at the hostel when they undergo radiotherapy treatment.
“Previously, these patients had to bunk with or stay at hotels,” she added.
Cleaner Che Gayah Basah, 55, from Parit Buntar, had been staying at the hostel for more than one week to care for her son, who had slipped into a coma after a road accident.
“When I was at the hospital to take care of my daughter last July, I had to rest on the floor at the surau.
“But now, it is safer and more comfortable staying at the hostel as there is a 24-hour security service,” she said.
Civil servant Shaari Abd Rashid, 51, from Kuala Lumpur, who was visiting his mother in the Intensive Care Unit, hoped other public hospitals would also provide such a facility.
“I think many people do not mind paying a small amount of money for the lodging, as long as they can be near their loved ones,” he added.
The Penang Council of Datuks had, on the initiative of its president Datuk Nazir Ariff, collected RM150,000 to renovate the derelict dental hostel.
In August last year, The Star highlighted Nazir’s frustration over the red tape that had hindered his efforts to get the project off the ground.
After failing to acquire land for the project, he convinced the authorities to allow him to renovate the former dental hostel.
But he was later informed that the building could only be used when its status had been converted from a dental hostel to a visitors’ hall.