TAWAU: Tawau Hospital and Sandakan Hospital will be upgraded to state hospitals with major specialist level, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
He said this would bridge the wide gap in terms of health facilities and expertise in the State.
“We are in the process of elevating Tawau Hospital (to a state hospital), so we can improve various aspects of health services for the people,” he told reporters after officiating the Madani Afiat and the State-level Healthy Malaysia National Agenda Tour programme, here, Saturday.
According to him, the new Tawau Hospital project will be handed over to the Ministry of Health (MOH) this August.
Regarding dilapidated health clinics in the State, Dzulkefly said 15 out of 58 such clinics in Sabah have been completely upgraded so far.
The Government, through the MOH, has allocated RM21.5 million to upgrade the 58 clinics, which were part of 70 wooden clinic buildings in the State, he said.
“Upgrade work is currently being conducted for the remaining 43 clinics. We hope to complete them by November 2024.
“We are also monitoring the 58 of 70 wooden health clinics, we will tackle them all and carry on in 2025, and all the upgrades will cost RM31.6 million,” he added.
Dzulkefly said last year’s national health and morbidity survey revealed that many Malaysians suffered non-commutable diseases (NCD).
“One of two Malaysians are overweight, one of three Malaysians have high cholesterol (33.3 per cent), high blood pressure (29.2 per cent) and one out of six have diabetes (15.6 per cent).
“Most are due to two factors, improper and unbalanced eating and unhealthy lifestyles.
“Overall one in seven Malaysians have kidney problems due to lack of early detection and intervention,” he said, adding that 9,000 new patients annually resort to dialysis to continue living.
The Government, he said, spends RM9.65 billion annually directly for NCD while the indirect cost reached RM12.9 billion.
“The impact on our economy is RM22.5 billion a year, or two per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Imagine how many roads, houses, and clean water supply can be channeled to Sabah if we don’t need to spend on preventable diseases,” he added.
