Ministry to look at alternate funding for new hospital

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry will seek alternative funding via Private Financing Initiatives for the development of the Women and Children’s Hospital near the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL).
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad said the ministry would try to obtain financial support through this “unconventional” means due to the current tight economic situation.
“If we pushed this project to be financed under the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP), then it would seem that we were running away from our problems,” Dr Abdul Latif told reporters after meeting patients in the HKL maternity ward for Hari Raya on Wednesday.
The hospital, originally budgeted for under the 9MP, would cost about RM700mil and consist of 600 beds.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai had said on Tuesday that RM300mil was cut from the ministry’s budget under the 9MP, causing certain projects to be pushed to the 10MP.
HKL delivers 16,000 babies a year and currently has 250 beds in its maternity section.