New Serdang heart centre beset with problems, says report

PUSAT Jantung Hospital Serdang (Serdang Heart Centre), which opened in December 2022 and was designed to reduce dependency on Kuala Lumpur’s National Heart Institute, is plagued with problems, according to The Star.

Four of its operating theatres cannot be used and are facing maintenance issues.

The Sultan Idris Shah Hospital in Serdang (or Serdang Hospital) still performs two to three heart surgeries a day at its old building.

A report from The Star quoting sources said the four operation theatres at the new heart centre were not functioning due to issues like faulty air conditioning.

“Meanwhile, at the old hospital building, there are four operating theatres. But there have been problems too. Since last week, only one theatre is still in use.

“We were running three operating theatres all this while because one had light and table issues and has been closed for the past two to three years.

“Earlier this year, it was reduced to two due to air conditioning problems. Since last week, we have been running only one operating theatre,” the source told the newspaper.

Sources disclosed that a total of eight surgeries can be performed in a day if all operating theatres are functional.

“As for the new building, none of the new operating theatres has been used since the building was completed,” said one source.

“The patients wait for at least a year for an admission date. Due to the lack of operating theatres, they wait for days or weeks in the ward.

“Many have just lost hope of getting a surgery slot,” the source said.

The centre is one of the country’s main cardiology and cardiothoracic centres and receives referrals from all over the country.

In October 2022, then health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the centre would shorten the waiting period from 18 months to just nine months for stable elective cases while emergency cases could be treated immediately.

The healthcare facility is equipped with a hybrid operating theatre – the first of its kind under the Health Ministry – and would benefit up to 250 cardiac patients per year.

Equipped with sophisticated equipment, the centre also enables complex cases to be carried out there, he said.

It has a coronary care unit, a paediatric intensive cardiothoracic care unit, an intensive care unit, an intensive cardiothoracic care unit and cardiac emergency department among others. – May 14, 2024.