KK may get third hospital

Star: KOTA KINABALU: A third hospital is being considered for the state capital as the Health Ministry is mulling over whether to buy the private Sabah Medical Centre (SMC) with a view to turning it into a cardiac centre.
Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said a new general hospital was needed to ease congestion at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) which would be made a specialist facility.
“We need a referral centre to serve the needs of patients from around Sabah requiring specialist treatment.
“The QEH could take on that role as a tertiary hospital,” he said after visiting the hospital.
Liow said the ministry would be holding further discussions with the state government which had offered land here for a general hospital.
Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman had made the offer after the QEH main tower block was declared unsafe and patients had to be relocated to other hospitals in the city and nearby districts.
On buying the SMC, he said the ministry was still studying the matter but noted that the state needed a cardiac treatment centre urgently.
“If we build one, it would take at least three to five years. Having a cardiac centre will reduce the need for Sabah heart patients to seek treatment at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Liow said that the last of the 119 patients were relocated from the QEH tower block to Likas Hospital, SMC, Damai Medical Centre and the Beaufort and Kuala Penyu hospitals.