Five specialist hospitals to ease KLGH load

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Newly completed government hospitals will specialise in certain fields of medicine to help ease congestion at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital (KLGH).
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the Government had this in mind when it built the new hospitals.
Five new hospitals were built in the past 10 years and each of them specialised in certain fields of medicine.
Dr Chua, who was speaking to reporters after a working visit to the newly completed Sungai Buloh Hospital, said the new hospitals were to meet the ever-growing needs of the Malaysian public.
“The public should know now that it is not necessary for them to go to the KLGH as they will be referred to the hospital that specialises in that particular ailment,” he added.
Apart from the Sungai Buloh Hospital, the other hospitals are in Ampang, Serdang, Putrajaya and Selayang.
Putrajaya Hospital will eventually specialise in endocrinology and cancer treatment.
Selayang will specialise in liver, eyes and hands surgery; Serdang in cardiology and respiratory diseases and Ampang in hematology.
Sungai Buloh Hospital would also specialise in infectious diseases, traumathology, neurosurgery, plastic surgery and spinal surgery in the near future.
Dr Chua said he was happy with his visit but noted that there were weaknesses such as shortage of trained personnel that he felt would be tackled in stages.
The RM880mil hospital that opened last October has 620 beds, 32 hospitals wards and 22 operation theatres.
Dr Chua also spoke on the issue of pork sellers threatening to strike for two weeks in protest of what they felt was double standards set by the ministry.
The Chinese daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, had reported that the pork sellers were protesting against why the ministry would fine them RM100,000 or 10 years' jail if they were found selling pork with beta-agonist but would only quarantine the farms of pig breeders who used the banned substance.
They, however, said that they would seek a meeting with the minister before making a final decision on the proposed strike.
Dr Chua said he had six million Chinese to look after and that their interests were far greater than that of the pork sellers.
“I hope they understand that I am only doing my job,” he said.