Govt directs concessionaires to check on hospital building safety
LABUAN: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has issued a directive to its hospital concessionaires to conduct checks on all government hospital buildings across the country.
Its deputy minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya (pix) said the concessionaires were required to particularly inspect the condition of old structures and wiring to prevent untoward incidents.
We have five concessionaires taking charge of maintenance of government hospitals and we will ask them to conduct checks on the condition of the building structures and the wiring systems.
"We still have many government hospital buildings which are already old and unchecked," he told reporters after visiting the Labuan Health Department and Labuan Nucleus Hospital, today.
He said maintenance of the hospitals' wiring systems and building structures was in accordance with the building safety requirements and wiring system safety standards of the local authorities.
Meanwhile, Dr Hilmi said the MOH was studying and considering the proposal to locate the operating theatre of all new government hospitals on the ground floor, following last year's fire at Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru.
He also said the ministry was looking into the needs and welfare of hospital staff such as providing more living quarters.
"Undeniably, the high rental of housing in most urban areas such as in Kuala Lumpur is a burden as currently our nurses are only receiving RM300 monthly housing allowance to cope with the RM600 and above rental," he noted.
Dr Hilmi further said the MOH was also seeing to the need for quarters of hospital and clinic staff serving in rural areas nationwide.
"The MOH has approved the construction of additional quarters for Labuan Health Department and hospital staff involving an allocation of RM30 million and works are in progress now," he disclosed.
He said the ministry was also considering to upgrade all rural clinics throughout the country to the status of health clinic.
"Not only for the 10 rural clinics in Labuan but all other such clinics in the country.
"In Labuan, we have upgraded the Kg Bebuloh Rural Clinic into health clinic and the others will follow suit," he said. — Bernama