Sabah seeks to use empty building as interim hospital

Star: KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is proposing the takeover of the abandoned Wisma Khidmat as an interim measure to resolve severe shortage of beds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The state cabinet led by Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman held a special meeting with Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai and top officials of the ministry to discuss the proposal to resolve the problems at the hospital.
“This is an urgent issue and we will study the proposal made by the state government,” Liow told reporters after the meeting with Musa at the Chief Minister’s official residence Sri Gaya.
The state has proposed to use the now abandoned nine-storey Wisma Khidmat and a four-storey office block about 400m from the QEH. The buildings will be refurbished and fitted with 250 beds as an immediate alternative following the QEH’s tower block being declared unsafe.
Liow said his officers would study the viability of the state’s proposal and make a decision quickly because there was an urgent need to resolve problems faced by patients.
He said the state’s proposal was a stop-gap measure as plans to build two tower blocks at the QEH were still on under the current Ninth Malaysia Plan.
“It is just a matter of negotiating the price for the tower project,” he said.
Musa told reporters that the state government’s plan was for a 250-bed surgical hospital to be built within five months.
He also said a 200 to 240-bed ward should be built to handle patients who could not use the QEH’s tower block.