BERA: The long-delayed Bera Hospital will be fully operational from early next year, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said the hospital will be completed by a third contractor with the construction cost ballooning from RM88 million in 2010 to RM130 million.
He said everyone was aware that works on the hospital were suspended two years after construction began in October 2010 as the contractor did not complete the job as scheduled,
"The building works was about 57 per cent complete in 2012 before it resumed work in 2016. The second contractor saw his services ending in October last year with works 93 per cent complete.
"A third contractor was appointed on Jan 5, 2021, and to date, the company has completed 98 per cent of the work. The hospital complex has been fully completed and now the focus is only to install the equipment and add the final touches," the Bera member of parliament told reporters after visiting the hospital and attending a briefing by the Public Works Department (PWD) at the site here today.
Ismail Sabri said the hospital comprising four blocks will be completed by the end of this year and is scheduled to be opened early next year.
"PWD is expected to hand over the hospital to the Health Ministry between January and February next year. The wait for a hospital is coming to an end and we hope there will be no further delays and everything will be sorted out as planned," he said.
Ismail Sabri said he hopes the 40-bed hospital will be able to station full-time specialists instead of receiving periodical visits by specialists every fortnight.
"These days, Bera residents have to travel to the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Hospital (Hoshas) in Temerloh for major medical treatment while those living near the Negri Sembilan border will go to the Kuala Pilah Hospital.
"We have several health clinics including in Tembangau and Kerayong near here but the presence of a hospital in Bera will be able to serve more than 150,000 people in this constituency," he said, adding the hospital will employ some 480 personnel.
Former Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam during his visit to the 13ha hospital in July 2017 was reported as saying only reliable contractors will be given the responsibility to complete hospital construction projects in the country.
He said the hospital's contractor had failed to honour the contract despite being given a time extension which resulted in increasing costs.