Leprosy centre to become heritage, tourist attraction

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Part of the Sungai Buloh Leprosy Centre may be made a heritage site and tourism attraction under a Health Ministry’s proposal to redevelop the area under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said it was decided to preserve some parts of the centre because of its historical significance.
"We planned to turn part of the centre’s buildings into a heritage site due to its historical significance and the building’s unique structure.
"It can also be a tourist attraction," he said after launching Tung Shin Hospital’s traditional medicine building yesterday.
He said at one time the lepers produced their own currency because the public was afraid to mix with them.
"Some of them still have the currency in mint condition," he added.
The leprosy centre opened in 1930 and was once the Commonwealth’s largest and most modern facility for the research and treatment of the disease.
In the early days, there were up to 3,000 patients but now, only 340 people who are cured of the disease remained, eking out a living by selling plants and flowers.
Many of them choose to stay at the centre due to the stigma attached to the disease.
Many have also lost contact with their families.
Dr Chua said there were no plans to close down the centre, assuring the remaining former leprosy patients that they could stay on.
Besides the centre, the 200ha site houses the Sungai Buloh Hospital.
Squatters have also moved in and nurseries are occupying the land illegally.
The redevelopment will also see the setting up of an Infectious Disease Control Centre as well as Universiti Teknologi Mara’s administrative and service centre.
Dr Chua said the cabinet had agreed on Wednesday for a committee headed by the ministry’s secretary-general to study the viability of turning the centre into a heritage site.
The committee will consist representatives from the Higher Education, Tourism, Housing and Local Government and Culture, Arts and Heritage ministries.
"It will ensure the redevelopment will be carried out in an orderly fashion and the land use will be optimised," he said.