JOHOR BARU: Johor hopes that the Hospital Sultanah Aminah 2 (HSA2) project will be included in Budget 2024 as part of efforts to alleviate congestion at the two main public hospitals in the area. Ling Tian Soon, the state health and unity committee chairman, revealed that the Defence Ministry has agreed to allocate some of its land in Skudai for the construction of HSA2.
He stated, “For now, the ministry has agreed to give away 28.33ha of their land in the area for the hospital’s construction. I also visited the site with Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa last month, and the Health Ministry is currently coming out with plans for the construction of the hospital under its planning unit. We hope that the planning process will go smoothly and that it could be included in Budget 2024, which will be tabled next month.”
Ling emphasized that HSA2 is a priority project for the Johor government in its efforts to alleviate congestion at the HSA and Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor Baru. Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has instructed Ling to continue discussions with the Health Ministry to pursue this project. Ling stated, “This is one of the focus projects for the state government, and we are very hopeful that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will have it included in Budget 2024.”
In July, Onn Hafiz met with Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan to address the matter, as the identified land in Skudai for HSA2 is owned by the Defence Ministry. Onn Hafiz noted, “The building of HSA2 is quite important as it could help reduce dependency and congestion at the existing hospital.”
Additionally, Ling expressed the state government’s desire for the expedited construction of a multi-storey car park at HSA. He stated, “The Prime Minister had previously announced a RM500mil allocation for the upgrade at HSA, including its car park, and we hope that construction could start soon.” On Sept 3, Prime Minister Anwar announced the allocation for HSA during his visit to the hospital
Credit: The Star : News Feed
