New RM250m maternity hospital for Penang

GEORGE TOWN : Penang will get a new RM250 million pediatric and maternity hospital to replace the existing one at Jalan Residensi by 2020.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the construction work will begin in 2016, and the project would be completed in 3 or 4 years' time.
Speaking at a press conference after his Penang hospital visit yesterday, he said the new hospital will be built at the current site of the Penang Maternity Hospital and the maternity and pediatric services would be temporarily transferred to the main Penang Hospital.
To address the short term congestion, he suggested a few alternative ways, including to consider shifting the outpatient department in Penang Hospital to a place outside as it is the main contributor of congestion in the hospital.
Another of his suggestions was that consideration should be given to having a standalone low-risk maternity centre in Penang so that mothers, who were in their second or third deliveries, which were conventionally considered as low-risk situations could be placed there.
He said this low-risk maternity centre concept has been practised in Putrajaya and could help reduce congestion.