Kuala Lumpur: The Government, through the Health Ministry, approved preliminary implementation works for a new building of the Duchess of Kent Hospital (HDOK) which can accommodate approximately 400 beds.
Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said this includes land surveying work, land study and the preparation of the project scope as well as other requirements that will be implemented first to estimate the project cost in detail.
He said it would be included in the 12th and 13th Malaysia Plans.
In the meantime, Lukanisman said his Ministry would continue to optimise heart disease treatment procedures.
“This includes arranging treatment schedules based on emergencies, and directing patients to receive treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (HQE) in Kota Kinabalu.
“Experts from the hospital will also provide expert advice to the Duchess of Kent Hospital, and if the situation is serious, the patient will be advised to receive treatment in Kota Kinabalu,” he said when responding to Sandakan Member of Parliament Vivian Wong’s request in the Special Chamber, for the 2024 Budget debate in the Dewan Rakyat, recently.
Earlier, Vivian asked the Federal Government and Health Ministry to expedite the development plan to upgrade HODK to a State Hospital in the east coast of Sabah.
Vivian said this is to increase in the hospital’s service capacity and overcome the need for more patient beds that are now unable to accommodate daily use.
Vivian also asked the Health Ministry about the progress of the HDOK upgrade plan as well as the plan to establish a Cardiology Department at the hospital.
He said HDOK currently only has 400 patient beds.
But at the same time, the hospital serves almost the entire east coast area, including Kinabatangan, Beluran and Tongod, with a population of approximately 800,000 residents.
“The situation also exceeded the capacity and is unable to meet the demands of patients and causes the best medical services to not be provided to the people.
“Therefore, I really hope that the Health Ministry would speed up the implementation of the upgrade plan since September 2022, where former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had announced in the Health White Paper that HDOK will be upgraded to become the second State Hospital in Sabah.
“It is comparable to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, with plans to increase the number of specialist departments from 18 to 49,” said Vivian.
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