Over 1,700 new staff for Miri Hospital following Block B’s completion, says Lukanisman

MIRI (July 1): The Ministry of Health (MoH) will add over 1,700 new personnel to beef up Miri Hospital’s manpower following the completion of the eight-storey Block B, said Deputy Minister of Health Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni.

The Public Works Department officially handed over the RM289.2 million facility, which was completed ahead of schedule last April, to MoH today.

“I am happy to announce that the Ministry of Health has approved as many as 1,719 new staff for Miri Hospital and the recruitment warrant has been released recently,” Lukanisman said while representing Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

This additional building is designed with a capacity of 328 beds and has First Class Ward, Women’s Ward, Men’s Ward, Children’s Ward, Obstetrics Ward, Main Operation Theatre (OT), Maternity OT, Intensive Care Unit, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Emergency and Trauma Department, Imaging Department, Specialist Doctor Clinic (Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynaecology), 900 parking spaces, 300 motorcycle parking spaces, and other related facilities.

Lukanisman said Block B will officially start operating tomorrow for a new chapter of better services.

“The operation will kick off for the emergency and trauma, and pathology departments, which will be complemented with operations of Registration and Payment Counters, Revenue Unit, ETD Pharmacy Counter, and Radiology Unit,” he said.

“This would be followed by operation of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Specialist Clinic, Paediatric Specialist Clinic, and a General Surgery Specialist Clinic, which will commence here this month, with these three specialties expected to go through a transition in phases from August to December this year.”

The new block also has seminar facilities with a capacity of 200 people for the training needs of health officers, as Miri Hospital is a training hospital for medical officers and other health workers.

There are 20 seminar rooms and eight meeting rooms, as well as a Tie Line System that connects to the operating room for Continuous Medical Education (CME) by displaying live surgeries for training and learning purposes.

Lukanisman said Block B is a step forward to making Miri a regional hospital by providing more many specialties to accommodate the needs of patients from Lawas, Limbang, Marudi, Miri, and Bintulu to be equal to services provided at Sarawak General Hospital.

The Emergency and Trauma Department can accommodate up to 100 people at a time and will help overcome the issue of overcrowding in specialist clinics and help reduce waiting times.

There are also child-friendly facilities inside and outside the building, which will directly help physical and cognitive development of paediatric patients, as the design also considered child patient welfare with school facilities in the hospital.

“Miri Hospital now has the capacity to handle serious and complex cases and this building also provides Disaster Management facilities in the Emergency and Trauma Department, resonating with the status of the Miri Division, which is centre of the oil and gas industry.

“Eight new ambulance units as well have been approved in this project,” Lukanisman said.

Separately, Lukanisman said he looked forward to Sarawak benefiting from the rollout of repairs and upgrades for hospitals and dilapidated clinics following the allocation of RM119 million this year.

The initial allocation was RM19 million approved by the Health Ministry, but Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg approved RM100 million for a matching grant of RM100 million by the federal government, which was agreed upon by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during his last visit to Sarawak for Gawai Dayak.