Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya said the contract would upgrade and extend the existing ICU, upgrade the paediatric ward, medical gas plant and the air-conditioning system at various parts of the hospital.
“The construction will begin next week and is expected to be completed in six months’ time.
“For the time being, 10 operating theatres will be closed temporarily, but six are still open while mobile operation theatres will be opened.”
He said this after launching the heart failure support group in conjunction with the World Heart Day at the Penang Hospital.
The heart failure support group, the first in Malaysia, offers help, assistance and advice to heart patients to recover.
Hilmi said that for major operations, Hospital Seberang Jaya, Hospital Bukit Mertajam and Hospital Kepala Batas would support the main hospital while it undergoes the upgrade.
As for patients needing heart surgery, the Penang Hospital’s Cardiology Department head, Dr Omar Ismail, said Alor Star Hospital had agreed to be a back-up if the need arose.
He said currently, there were 15,000 heart patients in Penang and every year, the number would increase by 2,000 to 3,000.
“This increase is extremely worrying and many do not realise that many of the heart-related diseases can be avoided if a healthy lifestyle is practised.”
Dr Omar said under the 2017 Budget, Penang, Serdang, Johor Bahru and Kuching would get a new cardiac laboratory to serve the northern region patients.
The Oct 25 fire killed six patients at HSA’s ICU.
They were M Kaliama, 23; C Neeramaldevi, 24; Yusof Hasan, 53; K Logeswaran, 20; Choo Lin Fong, 37; and Toh Ah Wah, 60.
At least three HSA medical workers were also injured.
Earlier today, Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam announced that the main HSA building was expected to remain closed for the next three weeks for further investigations and to assess the hospital’s safety.