The Sultanah Aminah Hospital. — Filepic
JOHOR BARU: The request for financial allocation from the Federal Government for the upgrading project of Sultanah Aminah Hospital (SA) was made decades ago, says Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
The Johor Mentri Besar explained that the request made by the state government was not something new.
“Finally, Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) listened to us and approved the RM500mil financial allocation for the upgrading project of the hospital,’’ he said on Monday.
Onn Hafiz said this to reporters after attending the closing ceremony of the MyMudah 2023 Johor State Level Conference organised by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation at a hotel here.
He said it was timely for the hospital to be upgraded as it is currently operating at 107% capacity which is not good for the hospital.
“The hospital is facing major restrictions such as a lack of spaces for patients and running short of beds for them,’’ said Onn Hafiz.
He added that there were several occasions when the hospital management had no choice but to place the beds outside the wards as the wards were already overcrowded with patients.
Onn Hafiz said part of the RM500mil would be utilised among others to upgrade several polyclinics in the hospital for patients with eyes, skin and heart-related diseases.
“We are also using the money to build a multi-storey car park within the hospital’s compounds,’’ he said.
Onn Hafiz said the upgrading project of the hospital would benefit not only Bangsa Johor but also patients from the southern regions who are referred to HSA for treatments.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had on Sunday (Sept 3) announced an allocation of RM500mil for the first phases of the upgrading project of HSA during his visit to the hospital.
