Six-storey wing for hospital

What say you on the issue below?

A NEW six-storey wing costing RM188mil will be built at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital (TJH) in Seremban to provide comprehensive medical care to women and children.

Scheduled to be ready by the end of 2011, the new wing will house three floors of obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) and paediatric wards, that will accommodate 316 beds.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the new addition would help solve many of the hospital’s problems, among which was the insufficient number of beds at the O&G and paediatric wards.

Better health care: Mohamad (left) looking at a model of the new wing at the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban.

“The move will create more space and allow for more beds in both the men’s and women’s first class wards which are now facing a shortage,” he said at the project’s ground-breaking ceremony recently.

The new facility will also include four storeys for parking with 900 bays, and Mohamad expressed confidence that the parking problem at the hospital would finally be solved.

Currently, the public often resort to going around the hospital just to find an empty lot and many even park at the bottom of the hill on which hospital is located.

The provision of more beds would also be a welcome change as people often complained of wards packed with beds.

Patients entitled to first class also have no choice but to be placed in second or even third class wards with the lack of space.

Mohamad said hospital would increase its bed capacity to 1,166 which would resolve the problem of ward overcrowding.

“We want to provide the best medical treatment for the community and the building of the new wing is part of our efforts.

“I also hope the building’s contractor will be able to complete the project earlier than scheduled without compromising on the quality of work,” he said.

He added that the Public Works Department would have to keep a close eye on the project to ensure its smooth completion and to avoid any untoward problems.