SANDAKAN – DAP’s MP for Sandakan, Vivian Wong, has reiterated calls for Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to build a new hospital in the district.
This should be included under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), she said after hearing demands from constituents.
Wong said that the district with over half a million population is currently relying on only one hospital, Hospital Duchess of Kent (HDOK), which has been facing issues of overcrowding.
“The ratio of hospital beds per population in Sandakan, which stands at one bed to 1,250 people, is nearly 2.5 times higher than the national average. This is simply unacceptable,” she said during the debate on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Wong also said that it is unacceptable that Sandakan is expected to attain city status this year when it has an overcrowded hospital that could not meet the demands of the people here.
“Last month when Omicron struck, HDOK ran out of beds for patients quickly, its specialist clinic had to be partially closed again as resources were diverted to Covid-19 cases, more non-Covid-19 related treatments and operations were further delayed. Our public healthcare standard has been severely affected.
“The number of beds available at the hospital remains at 400 since the new block was completed in 2007,” she added.
In a statement today, Wong reiterated that as the second-largest city in Sabah, Sandakan is in desperate need of another hospital to raise the standard of the state’s healthcare services.
“I urge YB Khairy to include building a new hospital in Sandakan under the 12MP so that the people in Sandakan and the surrounding east coast districts (Kinabatangan, Beluran, Telupid) can enjoy the same level of healthcare service as our fellow Malaysians in West Malaysia,” she added. – The Vibes, March 11, 2022
