Materia Medica Malaysiana

Lawas may get a hospital under 9MP

KUCHING July 2 - After three decades, Lawas in the northern region of Sarawak may get a hospital under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said Friday.

"This proposal is, however, still at the discussion stage and is part of ongoing efforts to upgrade the existing 22 hospitals and clinics in Sarawak," he told reporters after visiting the Kuching General Hospital.

He said an urban outpatient clinic with 20 beds would be built in Bintulu while Belaga, which is about the size of Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia, would get a clinic with 20 beds, a laboratory, X-ray room and pharmaceutical unit.

On having a doctor for Belaga, he said: "Doctors are not interested to serve in rural areas. This is an ongoing problem we will try to solve. Sarawak is still short of doctors with a ratio of 1:6,500," he said.

Under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, he said, Sarawak was allocated RM549 million from the health ministry's RM9.5 billion allocation.

A total of 47 projects had already been completed while 14 were under construction and 58 in the planning stage, he said.

Dr Chua said the Kuching General Hospital, the busiest in the state, would have its facilities upgraded in stages under the 9MP.

"This includes two linear accelerator units costing RM12 million for the radio therapy unit. As it cannot cope with the number of patients, being the only one in the Sarawak, they are referred to Nilai hospital," he said.

He said Sarawak received 63 new ambulances costing RM3.5 million and an allocation of RM7.5 million for the "Water Supply and Environmental Health" programme.