2. THE CHRONIC CONGESTION IN THE SGH.

2- THE CHRONIC CONGESTION IN THE SGH

The night before I had an urgent call from an old comrade whose father had landed up in the SGH. It turned out that his old wheel chair bound father was unable to get into the SGH! They had been waiting for some 3 hours to be attended to, but even after some attention they still are not able to get their father the required medical treatment, which require regular injections and hospitalization. Why? Because the SGH is short of beds!

I have over the years repeatedly made calls for the State and Federal governments to make long-term plans to deal with the acute problem of insufficient beds in the Kuching Metropolitan area. When the then Federal Health Minister, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, visited Kuching in Sept. 2007, I had personally handed over related memoranda to the Minister. Apart from the use of Sarawak International Medical Centre (SIMC) as a public hospital, other proposals made were ones made since early 2006, for the planning of 3 new general hospitals and 3 new polyclinics in and around Kuching including Petra Jaya, Batu Kawah and Padawan. To meet expected needs from rapid population growth in and around Kuching, the new general hospitals and polyclinics should be built in the next 5-12 years!

After another visit to the SGH and meeting with the Hospital Director Dr. Raja Lope Ahmad I had just in April 18^th 2008 in a press statement called on both the State and Federal Governments to coordinate in planning for short and long term solutions to the patient overcrowding and car parking shortage at Sarawak General Hospital.

I hope that the second phase renovation works at SGH could be expedited so that the patients cramped in the existing wards could be more comfortably accommodated in the more spacious block now under renovation.

I have been told that the SGH has 800 official and unofficial beds. This number well exceeds hospital planning norms in western countries, and excessive hospital bed size results in the loss of a more congenial atmosphere needed by patients and staff, among other drawbacks.

The car parking shortage is the result of the 3000 strong staff, thus numbering up to 1000 in a shift, hundreds of outpatients, and relatives and visitors of 700-800 inpatients competing for the 600 parking lots made available. According to the SGH Director, a five-storey storey car park has been approved on one part of the current car park lots. As tender and work will only begin when funds are allocated under the mid-term review of the 9MP, I would like to repeat my call here on the authorities to expedite the building of the car park.

However, the fastest way to solve the hospital bed problem is to make use of the 200-300 beds at the soon-to-be completed RM350 million Sarawak International Medical Centre at Kota Samarahan for use by the Ministry of Health for the general public, especially the lower income groups who cannot afford private sector medical care. This will most directly benefit not only the residents of Kuching but also the residents of Kota Samarahan, Sentosa, BDC, Tabuan, Pending, Padawan and beyond. I therefore urge the state government to seriously consider this request