MP to move for health minister's salary to be cut if...

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching will move a motion to have Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam's salary deducted if he fails to give valid reasons for the latest ceiling collapse at Serdang Hospital.

Teo said since the last mishap on Sept 30, there has not been any explanation on the ceiling collapse by the Health Ministry. It is not known whether it was the fault of the structure, the design or maintenance.

Teo, who was the former MP for Serdang, noted that Subramaniam had, at press conference on Oct 16, only said the Works Department had conducted an overall inspection of the RM690 million hospital and its structure and found it safe.

However, despite the assurances this happened again yesterday,with the ceiling at the Intensive Care Unit for babies collapsing, Teo said.

"This is a one-in-a-million incident and mysterious. Why have incidents of falling ceilings happening in the country in the past three years?" she asked.

Subramaniam should therefore give a valid explanation and not a recycled answer or an assurance that this would not happen again, as the previous health minister, Liow Tiong Lai, had said before.

"I also want to know what directives had been issued since the Sept 30 ceiling collapse," she added.

Teo described that it was unfortunate yesterday's incident happened six weeks after the previous incident and asked whether the minister was only interested in pocketing his wages instead of performing the true responsibilities that come with the portfolio.

Fourth such incident at hospital

"If the minister cannot give a good explanation, I will propose that his wages be cut when the Parliament is in session," Teo said.

Yesterday's ceiling collapse was the fourth such incident at the hospital. The first occurred in 2011 at the main lobby, the second at the emergency department, resulting in four people being injured and the Sept 30 incident at the maternity ward.

Teo asked whether the assurances given on Oct 16 were just empty promises, without any seriousness or conviction on the part of the minister in performing his duty, or whether the mishap was due to poor maintenance.

She noted that former minister Liow, in his response previously, had noted that the ceiling structures were weak and some dangerous and she asked whether any rectifications have been done since then.