KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Putrajaya Hospital is presently still able to meet the treatment and medical needs of the surrounding population, said Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni.

He said this is because the surrounding population can also seek treatment at other nearby health facilities, such as Serdang Hospital, Cyberjaya Hospital and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Hospital, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), which are located within 15 kilometres radius of the Putrajaya Hospital.

“Presently, the bed utilisation rate at Putrajaya Hospital is moderate, at around 66 percent, compared with the capacity of 605 available beds.

“In addition, the ratio of beds per 1,000 residents is 8.27 beds, this is above the average of 2.07 beds (per 1,000 residents) for the whole country,” he said.

He said this when winding up the debate of the Supply Bill 2023 (Budget 2023) for the Health Ministry, to answer a question posed by Senator Datuk Mohd Hisamudin Yahaya regarding Putrajaya Hospital, especially in the Emergency Department which is reported to be overcrowded.

Lukanisman said that every suggestion and issue raised regarding the Health Ministry’s (MoH) facilities will be given due consideration, but the focus at the moment is on optimising the existing facilities.

In the meantime, Lukanisman said that the MoH aims to add two more hospitals offering geriatric services within five years, in addition to the existing 16 hospitals.

“MoH also took the initiative to train caregivers for the elderly, and since 2013 we have had 19,792 trained caregivers for the elderly,” he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the issue of lack of health service staff, such as nurses, which was also raised during the debate session, Lukanisman said that the number of MoH nurses has increased by 38 percent compared with 2012.

“We have 69,608 nurses, consisting of 97 percent permanent appointments... we also do several initiatives to increase (the number of nurses) by increasing the recruitment of Diploma in Nursing trainees at the MoH training institutions, and make permanent appointments in phases, in addition to offering full paid leave to nurses of Grade U19, 24 and 26 to pursue the Diploma in Nursing programme,” he said. — Bernama