Awang raised the matter when debating the royal address.

He asked if the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government would still continue with the project which was promised by former prime minister Najib Razak in April this year.

“RM210 million was allocated in Budget 2016 but until today we are not sure what is going on.

“May I ask the PH government what are its plans and if there has been a temporary freeze on the hospital project?” he asked.

Awang said of all the Kedah districts, only Pendang did not have a hospital of its own.

“There are 150,000 people in the Pendang constituency, but if they fall sick, they need to visit hospitals in other places,” he said.

“I hope the PH government would still carry on with the building of the hospital as we have waited for so long for one of our own,” he said.

Najib had announced five new hospitals would be built and Pendang was one of them (the rest were Pasir Gudang, Kemaman, Cyberjaya and Maran).

The construction of the RM210 million four-storey hospital, to be built on a four-hectare land was supposed to begin in May.

However, Awang said there seemed to be no news on the commencement of the project.

The hospital would help to ease congestion at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, located 24km away from Pendang.