New Polyclinic and Maternity Centre proposed for Miri City

MIRI, July 2 (Bernama) -- A new health polyclinic has been proposed to be built here as part of the long-term solution to ease congestion at the existing Miri Polyclinic.

Miri Member of Parliament Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng said the proposal would be submitted to the Health Ministry for consideration, adding that the proposed site for the new polyclinic had been identified.

"The proposed site for the new polyclinic will accommodate more patients and bigger carparks," he told reporters at his office here today.

Dr Teo said the land size for the proposed new polyclinic was estimated at 8.5 acres or 3.4 hectares located at Tanjung Lobang.

For the record, the existing Miri Polyclinic located at Jalan Merbau has been in operation for more than four decades starting in 1973 and now serving up to 1,000 patients daily from urban and rural areas in Miri City who queued up in front of the polyclinic gate as early as 4am to get the number.

The Miri Polyclinic operate from 7.30am to 10pm during weekdays and 8am to 12 noon on Saturday.

Apart from the new polyclinic, Dr Teo has proposed that a new maternity centre for Miri City be set up to avoid congestion at Miri Hospital as presently the hospital was facing the problem of overcrowding due to the shortage of patient's bed.

He said the new maternity centre could be a cheaper alternative rather than hospital extension that could be expensive and take time to implement.

As for the flying doctor service, he suggested that the Health Ministry introduced mobile health services using four by four vehicles to remote areas here.

He said using helicopters was not cheaper now as the charge was RM6,000 per hour when flying to interior areas.

-- BERNAMA