Aug 9, 2010
New hospital projects must be finished on time, says Liow
KOTA KINABALU: The Government will not tolerate any delay in the upgrading work for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) I and II projects.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the projects were critical and needed to be completed on schedule to meet the needs of the people.
“This is not a normal project, we need the facilities completed on time. I cannot tolerate any delays. Don’t let me down,” he said during a briefing on the RM76mil upgrading of QEH II that the government bought over from the private Sabah Medical Centre in Damai.
He said the upgrading works by MRCB at the QEH II which should be completed by Feb 2011 was already 13 days behind schedule.
The work on the nine-storey QEH II includes building a five-storey car park, elevators, refurbishing the accident and emergency department, developing the cardiology and cardiothoracic centre and expanding the minor operation theatres, among others.
The government is also building a twin tower block at the site of QEH I to replace the 10-storey tower block that has been deemed unsafe.
Liow said Public Works Department would issue a warning if the projects were delayed by 30 days and would revoke the contract if the delay hits 60 days.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was concerned about the health facilities here and wanted to ensure that the projects were completed on time.
“All parties involved – the contractor, Health Department and Public Works Department – must discuss problems on the ground and resolve them immediately.”
Liow slammed the opposition Sabah Progressive Party for claiming that there was no General Hospital in Kota Kinabalu and that the Federal Government was treating the state like a stepchild.
He said the moment the tower block at QEH was declared unfit for use, the Cabinet had approved the purchase of Sabah Medical Centre (now QEH II) and immediately decanted services to other hospitals.
Kota Kinabalu now has five operational hospitals, he said, in reference to the Likas Women and Children’s Hospital, QEH I, QEH II, Bukit Padang Hospital and Lingzhi Hospital.
On the parking problem at Tawau Hospital, he said the government would resolve the problem by building a RM16mil multi-storey car park to ease congestion.
On dengue, he said there were 29,000 cases involving 94 deaths in the country so far this year compared to 28,054 cases and 67 deaths last year.
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