KUCHING, July 3: The Health Ministry will propose to the Federal Cabinet to terminate the services of the main contractor of the RM495 million Petra Jaya hospital project due to gross delay.
Work on this project started in May 2013 and it was supposed to be completed by November 2016. As of last month, work was only 34.5 per cent completed. The latest appeal by the contractor was for the completion date to be extended to December this year.
Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said once the proposed termination is approved, the Works Ministry will take over all the 23 ‘sick’ hospital and clinic projects nationwide, including the proposed Sri Aman hospital.
Dr Dzulkefly told reporters here that the proposal to terminate the services of the main contractor of the Petra Jaya hospital project came about during his meeting with the Health Department and Works Ministry earlier today.
“JKR (Public Works Department) will take over the Petra Jaya Hospital project. They will be the implementor. We will retain the services of performing sub-contractors and the consultant,” he said.
Dr Dzulkefly said so far RM145 million had been paid to the main contractor.
On the proposed Sri Aman hospital, he said the problem was similar to Petra Jaya hospital’s but he did not have more details on it.
However, the minister promised to look into it.
On another matter, Dr Dzulkefly said due to the increasing need for hospital beds and operating theatres in the Sarawak General Hospital, he proposed to outsource these facilities on a leasing basis from private hospitals and other nearby government hospitals.
“We hope the private hospital owners will not charge expensively, and instead give us reasonable fees by considering it as part of their corporate social responsibility.
“After all, we all want to provide good medical services to the people,” he reasoned.
Dr Dzulkefly visited Sarawak General Hospital, Sarawak Heart Centre and the “sick” Petra Jaya hospital project site today. — DayakDaily
