LANGKAWI: The damage or defects in the surgery complex at the Sultan Idris Shah Hospital (HSIS) Heart Centre in Serdang will undergo repairs by next month.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the assurance was given by the project contractor after holding a meeting with the Selangor Health Department and the Public Works Department recently.
“We want to ensure that they meet the deadline. The new building with four operating theatres that are not functioning is severely affecting the delivery services of the Heart Centre,” he told the media here yesterday, Bernama reported.
The minister was commenting on the report frontpaged by The Star on May 14 about the maintenance issues at the cardiac facility in Serdang Hospital, which had caused its four operating theatres to be non-functioning and resulted in over 1,000 patients on the waiting list.
Opened in December 2022, the heart centre is one of Malaysia’s primary cardiology centres, receiving referrals from all over the nation.
Flashback: The Star’s report from May 14 on the maintenance issues at the cardiac facility in Serdang Hospital.
The Selangor Health Department later confirmed technical issues facing the Heart Surgery Complex at HSIS, including electrical supply and high humidity.
However, Dzulkefly said the situation would not disrupt emergency cases as arrangements would be made to refer patients to other facilities such as the National Heart Institute (IJN).
Earlier, Dzulkefly and Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi accompanied the Sultan of Kedah, Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah, and the Sultanah of Kedah, Sultanah Maliha Tengku Ariff, to visit the construction site for the Sultanah Maliha Hospital additional building project here.
The project, which began on Jan 20, 2022, is ahead of schedule by 15 days, reaching 22.5% progress, Dzulkefly said.
Scheduled to be completed by Dec 26 next year, the project involves a contract cost of RM425mil to increase the number of specialised services and reduce the dependency on and referrals of patients to Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah in Alor Setar and other hospitals.
“This additional building also increases the number of beds, from 110 to 330, to accommodate the growing population of Langkawi and the increasing number of tourists,” he said.
The ministry, he added, would ensure that the comprehensive facility was also supported by adequate human resources and the latest digital technology.
