It said it welcomed the construction of the RM500 million hospital, to be built on a 28,500 sq m plot of land belonging to the Malaysian Armed Forces at Gua Permai Camp, Tambun.
However, it added that dedicated medical units would better serve veterans and minimise unnecessary administrative problems.
PPK president Brig Gen (Rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji said it would be difficult for veterans across the country to travel to Ipoh for medical treatment, especially as most were old and some physically disabled.
If the defence ministry built dedicated medical units at existing hospitals, he said, veterans would not have to travel long distances since government hospitals were available in every state.
“Second, scarce medical resources could be shared between the government hospital and the veteran medical unit. Third, government hospitals generally have better medical facilities and the staffs are more experienced in the handling patients,” he said in a statement.
He added that the Armed Forces had hospitals at Camp Terendak in Melaka, RMN Base Lumut in Perak, and Hospital Tengku Mizan in Kuala Lumpur.
“Similarly, veterans medical units could also be built alongside these hospitals, giving a much wider spread of units all over the country that veterans could go to, rather than just the one veterans hospital at Ipoh, Perak.”
He also suggested that such medical services be extended to retired police personnel, saying they too had defended the nation and should be given equal treatment to that of Armed Forces veterans.