SABAH Progressive Party (SAPP) has questioned over the extended delay in the renovation work at Queen Elizabeth Hospital II (QEII), formerly known as the Sabah Medical Centre, almost one year after its purchase by the Ministry of Health.
Questioning this was SAPP Information Chief, Chong Pit Fah.
He said he was both shocked and outraged to see no sign of renovation work at all when he went to the QEII yesterday, to visit a friend who was admitted there.
He noted that records showed that the Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had talked about the said issue thrice in the past first during the announcement of the purchase of SMC in September last year, that the renovation work would start as soon as possible to address the shortage of hospital beds and was expected to complete within six months; the second announcement was in December 2009 that the renovation work was expected to complete by the end of this year, and the third time was during his visit to Kota Kinabalu in March this year.
Liow had said that once the renovation work is completed, there will be 2,296 hospital beds in Kota Kinabalu by 2012, which is more than twice the 1,060 beds available at present.
“There are presently 174 beds available at QEII. We are going to add 284 more so there will be 485 beds in total,” Liow said during a press conference at QEII on 16 December 2009, adding that there will be another 200 beds at Likas Hospital by the end of this year.
The additional beds will create a better ratio of one bed to 348 persons (1:348), which is lower than the national ratio of one bed to 530 persons.
“How many more six months does he (Liow) need still to complete the renovation work at QEII? Is this what the Barisan Nasional government meant by “Rakyat DiDahulukan. Pencapaian DiUtamakan (People 1st. Performance Now),” Chong asked, adding that he has failed in his Key Performance Index (KPI).
He thus urged Liow to stop “taking the people of Sabah for a ride” every time he comes here for a visit.
“Please stop insulting the intelligence of Sabah people. We are not stupid!” said Chong who is a strong critic of the healthcare facility issue since the evacuation of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), after it was found to be unsafe for occupation two years ago.
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