Thunderstorm damaged four maternity wards

KULAI: Continuous heavy rain with rolling thunder caused four maternity wards at Hospital Temenggung Seri Maharaja Tun Ibrahim to be closed after roof tiles were broken and rain poured directly onto the exposed ceilings in Kulai on Monday evening.
The almost an hour rain cum thunder which started about 5.30pm also resulted in the ceilings breaking.
Johor Health and Environment, Education and Information committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat who visited the hospital today said that only one maternity ward can be used while the four need to be closed to assess the damage and repair works.
He added 43 patients including five new-born babies were transferred from the affected wards.
The 95-bedded hospital had 85 in-patients when the incident happened.
Ayub said operations at the hospital was on-going as normal.
He added the Ministry of Health will allocate RM400,000 for repair works at the maternity wards besides another RM100,000 for the Kulai Besar clinic centre.
Kulai hospital is located on a small hill top and the rain and thunderstorm had also caused some trees to fall inside the hospital compound.
Some 15 vehicles were also damaged by the uprooted trees in Jalan Ayer Hitam during the storm.
Kulai District police chief Supt Razak Md Said when contacted said there was no report of any casualties.