New 10-storey building planned for hospital as part of upgrades

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RAJA Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh will undergo a RM300mil expansion under the 10th Malaysia Plan to better serve the public.

Perak Health Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon (BN-Chenderiang) said a new 10-storey building with 528 additional beds would be built to cater to the rising number of patients seeking treatment at the hospital.

The new building, he said, would include the obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatric and cardiology departments.

“The obstetrics and gynaecology ward will have 250 beds, the paediatric ward 212 beds, and the cardiology ward 66 beds.

More on the way: The hospital’s new block will have an additional 316 parking bays for cars and 139 spaces for motorcycles.

“The hospital currently has about 990 beds,” Dr Mah said at the state assembly on Monday.

The new block would also see an additional 316 parking bays for cars and 139 spaces for motorcycles at the hospital, he added.

Dr Mah was replying a question by A. Sivasubramaniam (DAP-Buntong) about whether the hospital was congested and how it would cope with the number of patients it received.

“The new block will be put up at the site of the present post-natal and palliative wards.

“We will call for a tender in December, while work is expected to begin in June next year,” said Dr Mah.

To another question by Sivasubramaniam, Dr Mah said the hospital would have three new lifts to replace the existing three old ones from 30 years ago.

Noting that the tender had just been issued, Dr Mah said maintenance works would be conducted to ensure that the existing lifts worked properly while waiting for them to be replaced.

Of the total six lifts at the hospital, two were replaced in 2002 while another was replaced last month.