Flashback: The report that was published in The Star on May 14, 2024.
KUALA LUMPUR: Three of the four operating theatres at the Serdang Heart Centre (PJS) in Selangor, which had been unused due to electrical issues, will be operational for both elective and emergency surgeries by June.
This was confirmed by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad through a brief post on X yesterday.
“In the meantime, angiogram services at PJS and emergency treatment for patients will still continue as normal at the facilities at Hospital Sultan Idris Shah (Serdang Hospital),” he said in the post, Bernama reported.
The Star’s frontpage report on May 14 revealed that although it was completed in December 2022, the four operating theatres at the cardiac facility could not be used due to maintenance issues.
This has left 1,000 patients in need of urgent heart surgery on the waiting list for several months.
Hospital Sultan Idris Shah, which houses the centre, still carries out two to three heart surgeries a day at its old building. Even then, only one of its four older operating theatres is operational.
Sources had told The Star that the four operation theatres at the new heart centre were not functioning due to issues like faulty air-conditioning and electricity supply.
Following the report, the Health Ministry said the project’s contractor had promised to fix the centre’s defects within one month.
For now, emergency cases have been referred to other facilities such as the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur.
