Sarawak is plagued with unfinished hospital projects that both the federal and state governments must step in to cure, said Miri MP Dr Michael Teo.
Teo (photo) said Sarawak had the largest number of 'sick' hospital projects, which includes planned hospitals in Sri Aman, Petra Jaya, and Lawas.
"The people of Lawas have been awaiting a new district hospital since the hospital rebuild was approved in 1996 by then finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.
"This was 24 years ago. Till now the people are still waiting.
"Pregnant mothers and children who require critical care need to be transferred five hours away and through numerous checkpoints in neighbouring Brunei to reach the Miri General Hospital," the PKR lawmaker said in a statement today.
The Sri Aman hospital, meanwhile, was due for completion in 2019 but till today is only 20 percent complete, he said.
Teo said Sarawak's rural community is the worst affected, with many needing to travel between three to eight hours to reach a tertiary hospital.
Many also can't afford the journey which can cost between RM75 to RM150, he said.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed the "severe inadequacies" of Sarawak's healthcare system.
As such he said both Putrajaya and Petra Jaya must resolve the issue of stalled hospital projects urgently, and also train more local Sarawakians as frontline health care workers.
"Emergency and critical care services must be given top priority in the Covid-19 era and beyond," he said.
Meanwhile, Teo also welcomed the Health Ministry's announcement that Sarawak now has 18 hospitals for Covid-19 screening now, up from just five when the movement control order first began in mid-March.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah yesterday announced that four Sarawak hospitals are now Covid-19 treatment centres and that four laboratories in the state are also now able to do testing for the virus.
A lab turbo-machine, which can do up to 200 tests per day, will also be installed at the Sarawak General Hospital. - Mkini
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