Kota Kinabalu: Some 23 dilapidated health clinics in Sabah are being upgraded and expected to be completed this year.
State Health Director, Dr Asits Sanna, said in an effort to improve health services in Sabah, 72 more clinics identified as dilapidated and would be upgraded in stages through the State Health Department’s Strategic Planning (JKNS).
“Of the 327 health clinics in the state, 95 dilapidated clinics have been identified and will be upgraded gradually.
This year a total of 23 dilapidated health clinics are being upgraded from wooden to concrete buildings.
“So far, two of them have been completed. They are Klinik Desa Lajong, Kudat and Klinik Desa Mumiang Sandakan, while another 21 projects are targeted for completion by the end of November,” he explained.
In addition, JKNS is also committed to improving the infrastructure of health facilities in two hospitals respectively by upgrading the district hospital to a specialist hospital and upgrading the specialist hospital to state hospital status, he stressed.
“JKNS is working to upgrade the district hospitals to specialist hospitals, namely both the Beaufort and Kota Marudu Hospitals that have been listed in the 10th Malaysia Plan (RMK10) and 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK11).
“Meanwhile, we are also upgrading two specialist hospitals, namely Tawau and Duchess Of Kent Sandakan (HDOFS) to state hospital status as planned,” he said.
He added that JKNS is also planning to establish a dental clinic component in health clinics that do not yet have a dental component involving 90 clinics.
Also included in JKNS strategic planning is the creation of the Sabah Health Department’s own Wisma to unite all parts in one building.
“At the moment, there are some offices that are renting in other buildings. Therefore, we plan this project and include it in the RMK13 or RMK14 list,” he said during a courtesy call on the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Tun Juhar Mahiruddin at Istana Seri Kinabalu , on Tuesday.
Earlier, Tun Juhar received a courtesy visit from the President of the Sabah Dry Cough Prevention Association (SABATA), Masdah Enti and his entourage to complete the launch of the flag sale held every July.
Masdah said it would continue to seek funds by setting a sales target of RM30 thousand to help tuberculosis patients in the state.
“We hope that this year we can reach the target of RM30 thousand because that is what we usually collect every year if it’s not enough, then we will try to find other financial sources including from the state and federal governments in assisting TB patients who in need financial assistance,” he said.
