After 3-year delay, women and children’s hospital complex almost done

 

A photo of the Kajang Hospital’s women and children’s complex that was taken on May 31.

PETALING JAYA: Kajang Hospital’s RM305 million women and children’s complex is expected to be completed by the end of this month, more than three years behind schedule, and ready to be handed over to the health ministry by the end of July.

The complex would ease congestion at the 135-year-old hospital by adding 272 beds to the hospital’s existing 306 beds. It was originally scheduled to be completed in April 2021.

However, while the project is almost complete, the project contractor and the public works department (JKR) have postponed the handover date several times, according to a source with knowledge of the project.

JKR was to have handed over the complex to the health ministry last November, but the handover was moved to February this year before being pushed forward to April.

Former prime minister Najib Razak with health ministry officials after the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kajang Hospital’s women and children’s complex in April 2018. (Bernama pic)

The JKR corporate communications unit told FMT: “JKR is doing its best to complete the project as planned”, when asked about the reason for the delay.

The department said the complex is 99% complete. “It (the complex) is expected to be completed by June 30, and if the project progresses as planned, it is expected to be handed over to the health ministry on July 30,” the department said in a statement to FMT.

It did not account for the three-year delay or changes in handover dates more recently.

JKR’s website says the 272-bed women and children’s complex will house an emergency and trauma department, multi-disciplinary clinics, six operating theatres and a multi-level carpark.

Bernama previously reported that the complex will benefit 1.2 million residents in Kajang and Hulu Langat.

Much-needed upgrade

The hospital was described in 2015 by then prime minister Najib Razak as being dilapidated and constantly congested. When inaugurating the complex’s groundbreaking ceremony in April 2018, he acknowledged the importance of a much-needed upgrade to Kajang Hospital.

Established in 1889 and built on 16 acres of land, Kajang Hospital was upgraded from 250 beds in the 1970s to 306 beds in 2010.

A Kajang resident told FMT that the area’s residents are looking forward to the launch of the women and children’s complex as it will allow the existing maternity ward at the hospital to be freed up for use by other patients.

“The congestion at the hospital is really crazy,” he said, adding that the three-year delay has been “way too long”.

FMT has sought comment from the health ministry. - FMT