JOHOR BARU: In a bid to ease congestion at the two main public hospitals here, Johor expressed its hope that the Hospital Sultanah Aminah 2 (HSA2) project will be included in Budget 2024.
State health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the Defence Ministry has already agreed to give up some of their land in Skudai for the construction of HSA2.
“For now, the ministry has agreed to give away 28.33ha of their land in the area for the hospital’s construction.
“I also visited the site with Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa last month, and the Health Ministry is currently coming out with plans for the construction of the hospital under its planning unit.
“We hope that the planning process will go smoothly and that it could be included in Budget 2024, which will be tabled next month,” he told reporters after officiating the state-level Wellness Month at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) Wellness Hub here yesterday.
Ling added that HSA2 was among the projects the Johor government was focusing on to reduce congestion at the HSA and Sultan Ismail Hospital here.
“Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has also told me to continue the discussion with the Health Ministry.
“This is one of the focus projects for the state government, and we are very hopeful that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will have it included in Budget 2024,” he said.
In July, Onn Hafiz said he had met with Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan over the matter, as the piece of land in Skudai earmarked as the site for HSA2 was owned by the ministry.
“The building of HSA2 is quite important as it could help reduce dependency and congestion at the existing hospital,” said Onn Hafiz.
On a separate note, Ling said that the state government also hopes the construction of a multi-storey car park at HSA could be sped up.
“The Prime Minister had previously announced a RM500mil allocation for the upgrade at HSA, including its car park, and we hope that construction could start soon,” he added.
On Sept 3, Anwar announced the allocation for HSA during his visit to the hospital.
