ISKANDAR PUTERI: Discussion is ongoing between the Health Ministry and the Defence Ministry with regard to a piece of land in Skudai where the proposed Hospital Sultanah Aminah 2 (HSA 2) is expected to be built.
State health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said that this was because the land that had been identified as a suitable location for the hospital was owned by the Defence Ministry.
"Recently, we (the state government) met with the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and this was among issues that we highlighted to him.
"We faced some difficulties with regard to the land matter previously and have asked the Health Ministry to carry out discussions with the land owner (Defence Ministry). Talks are currently ongoing between the two ministries.
"Once the land matter has been resolved, we can proceed to apply to get an allocation for the construction of the hospital," he said in a press conference after the state assembly sitting here.
Ling said this when asked about the progress of the plan for the construction of HSA 2, which was previously proposed to be built in Kempas.
In August last year, former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the new hospital was expected to reduce the load at the two main hospitals in Johor Baru, Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) and Hospital Sultan Ismail (HSI).
On a separate matter, Ling said that the two wards in HSI that had been closed since the Covid-19 pandemic had reopened since Wednesday (June 14).
He said that the two wards, which could accommodate a maximum of 54 beds each once, were now operating with 20 beds each for the time being.
"The two wards were forced to close temporarily because of a lack of manpower. The Health Ministry has recently deployed a total of 35 nurses to Johor, who are all being posted to HSI.
"This allowed the hospital to reopen the two wards. As a start, each ward will have 20 beds as the new nurses will need time to get used to the system in the hospital. The wards will operate fully in stages," he said.
