Sibu Hospital exposed ceiling: Tiang seeks help from MoH to resolve condensation

SIBU (Nov 13): Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Datuk Michael Tiang hopes that the Ministry of Health (MoH) could look into the dire need of revamping the Sibu Hospital.

Responding to a news report in The Borneo Post yesterday regarding the safety concerns at Sibu Hospital due to a portion of exposed ceiling in Ward 26, he said Sibu Hospital needs federal allocation to make it safer for its patients.

“We really need the federal government especially MoH because Sibu Hospital is not only serving Sibu but the whole central region population.

“I hope that this issue will attract the attention of MoH to look at our dire need of federal funds to rebuild the hospital to make it suitable for air-conditioning,” he pointed out.

Tiang, who is also Pelawan assemblyman, said that he had checked with Sibu Hospital and found out that the hospital had to remove the ceiling because of the condensation problem.

He pointed out that it is an outstanding issue because when Sibu Hospital was built, it was not designed for air-conditioning.

“As time passed, the hospital started to install some air-conditioners for certain rooms for specific purposes and that caused a lot of humidity and condensation problems.

“This was aggravated during the Covid-19 pandemic when the hospital had to designate few wards as isolation wards for Covid-19 control; so, they are air-conditioned.

“It made the condition so humid that some ceilings accumulated water,” he explained.

He lamented that Sibu Hospital not only has to treat patients, but also deal with fungus issues due to condensation problems.