Clarification sought on land for Tawau Hospital upgrade
TAWAU: Democratic Action Party (DAP) state secretary Chan Foong Hin has urged the State Government, the Sabah Land and Survey Department and the landowner to clarify the status of the allocation of a seven-acre land near the Tawau General Hospital for an upgrading project of the hospital.
Chan, who is also Sri Tanjung assemblyman, said they should explain clearly about the land issue to the people, especially the Tawau community for whom the Federal Government had allocated RM253 million last year under the 11th Malaysia Plan to upgrade the Tawau Hospital.
It would be the largest upgrading project in the east coast of Sabah for the health sector.
The allocation was announced by Chief Secretary Tan Sri Dr Ali Bin Hamsa during a visit to Tawau hospital where he signed the plaque for the upgrading project on August 6, 2016; citing that Tawau Hospital here aims to become a ‘Referral Hospital’ not only to the 400,000 residents here but also for those in Kunak and Semporna by the year 2020.
During his visit, Ali had said the tender of the mega project started on May 30, 2016 and the process of designing is ongoing now while the construction would start this year. The whole upgrading project will be carried out step by step within three years and is expected to be completed on March 15, 2020.
The project will consist of six operating theatres, 555 beds in wards, 38 specialist clinics, emergency and trauma units, radiology unit, haemodialysis unit, pharmacy and other medical equipment and amenities like water tanks.
“The State Government should not have any reasons for not letting out the seven-acre land for the upgrading project while on the other hand, they should fight for it for the people of Sabah which is in line with the concept of 1Malaysia – ‘People First, Performance Now’.
“It is learnt that this upgrading project will include a Mother and Child Centre (at the old hospital building), surgical hall building and medical building (to be developed) in an area located close to each other. I was assured that this upgrading project will bring a huge convenience and comfort to the people in Sabah, particularly patients who are not used to commute here and there for treatment like in Kota Kinabalu where they are located in different areas,” Chan pointed out to the media here yesterday morning.
According to him, there should never be a reason for not approving and letting the sevenacre land for the upgrading project by the State Government despite the RM253 million which had been allocated by the Federal Government earlier.
Chan said he has no idea about the causes for non-approval/ letting the land but he is certain the people will lose and suffer if this upgrading project is delayed or do not take off.
For example, if the upgrading project were to be implemented on the current open space (for temporary parking space), it would be grossly insufficient due to the tiny area and would cause another parking shortage problem at Tawau hospital.
Touching on the CT scan (computerized tomography) issue, Chan believed this problem could be resolved as soon as a new CT scan had arrived and being test run in the hospital right now before being used in March.
The previous CT scan had broken down since October 2016 and he strongly urged the patients who had spent money for CT scan at private hospitals during the period of time, to become more collective by coming together to voice out their demand for compensation from the government through the proper way.
However, Chan also expressed his gratitude to Ali for his concern towards Tawau hospital and for some improvements that could be seen in the hospital, which is getting better than the Sandakan hospital.