Anwar arriving at Aidilfitri Madani celebration at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) on Saturday. — photo courtesy of Sabah Information Department
KOTA KINABALU (April 20): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has announced the setting up of a national heart center in Sabah through the rebranding of Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2 (QEH2).
Speaking at the Aidilfitri Madani celebration at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) on Saturday, Anwar said the setting up of the heart center was made on the recommendation of the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MOH) following the increasing workload pattern where the bed occupancy rate currently has reached 75 per cent.
“Sabah will have its own heart centre that will be known as the National Heart Centre Sabah through the upgrading of QEH2.
“The QEH2 upgrading works require an allocation of RM80 million and preliminary works will begin in 2024,” he said.
HQE2 will be upgraded to the National Heart Centre Sabah based on two aspects namely, upgrading of existing space and increasing expertise and trained support.
Existing infrastructure that will be upgraded is at the Emergency Department.
Meanwhile, there will be three additional specialists and 120 trained supporters.
The National Heart Centre Sabah is expected to be the second such facility after the existing one in Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier, Anwar attended a briefing on Sabah state development at Menara Kinabalu here.
Anwar who arrived at 10.13 am was accompanied by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam and Datuk Shahelmey Yahya.
Also present at the briefing were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof who is also the Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation as well as federal cabinet ministers.
The briefing, which lasted about one and a half hours, was delivered by State Secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong, and it was also attended by heads of state and federal departments, government agencies and government-related companies.
Anwar, who is also the PKR president, also attended a special meeting with the Sabah PKR State Leadership Council (MPN) and was then scheduled for the national-level Aidilfitri Madani 2024 Celebration.
The special plane carrying Anwar arrived at Terminal Two, Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 11.40 pm on Friday and he will depart for Kuala Lumpur on Saturday afternoon.