A shot in the arm for healthcare

Pantai Hospital Penang’s new block offering 117 beds and other facilities is expected to be ready in 2024.

AFTER more than 25 years providing quality healthcare, Pantai Hospital Penang in Bayan Baru is building a RM200mil block to enhance its services further.

The hospital, which is part of IHH Healthcare Malaysia’s network of 16 hospitals, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new block at its open carpark area behind its medical building.

Chief executive officer Pan Wen Lek said in his speech that the 16,364sq m seven-storey medical block, which is the first phase of the expansion project, would be ready in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The block will have 117 beds, 14 intensive care units (ICUs) and high dependency units (HDUs) as well as 36 consultation suites, five operating theatres, a cardiac catheterisation laboratory and four endoscopy rooms.

“This will be followed by the remodelling of our existing building which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026,” he said.

Pan said that with the expansion, Pantai Hospital Penang would become a 307-bedded facility with 30 ICUs/HDUs, 89 consultation suites, 10 operating theatres, two cardiac catheterisation laboratories, five endoscopy rooms and 440 parking bays by 2026.

He said the hospital, which houses the only stroke centre in the northern region, began operating in July 1997 with only six specialities, 30 staff members and nine consultants.

“The hospital requires the extension to enhance patient care quality and upgrade facilities.

“The expansion will also help boost Penang’s goal to become a medical tourism hub,” he said.

The new building will have a sustainable design by focusing on the six main criteria set by the Green Building Index.

The expansion is also expected to create 1,000 jobs for Penangites.

IHH Healthcare Malaysia chief executive officer Jean-Francois Naa said despite an increasingly competitive healthcare landscape over the past two years, the hospital and its sister hospital Gleneagles Hospital Penang had consistently attracted patients.

“Both hospitals have been working closely with the Penang government to ensure quality healthcare is extended to all,” he said.

He also said that Pantai Hospital Penang would bring in more healthcare professionals and allied practitioners to build on its strengths.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said at the groundbreaking ceremony that the new facility supported the Penang2030 vision.

Also at the ceremony were Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, IHH Healthcare chairman Tan Sri Mohammed Azlan Hashim, IHH Healthcare Malaysia chief operating officer Ivan Loh, Pantai Hospital Penang person-in-charge Dr Zulkefli Hussein and Pantai Hospital Penang co-founder Datuk Dr Godfrey Geh Sim Wah.