GEORGE TOWN: Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam has chided Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for asking the ministry to fulfil its promises to upgrade hospitals and health clinics in the state without any delay.
Denying that there had been any delay, he said the federal government had implemented numerous medical projects for the benefit of the people nationwide, including Penang.
Dr Subramaniam said the ministry would rebuild the Women and Child’s Block at the Penang Hospital at a cost of RM250 million.
“There are also plans to build another block at the Seberang Jaya Hospital at a cost of RM486 million. Then, there is a proposal to upgrade the Balik Pulau Hospital, and we are also looking for a suitable place to place an outpatient clinic here.
“So, a lot of things are happening here in Penang. Maybe the chief minister has not opened his eyes to see all these things,” he told newsmen after launching the international Medical Devices Conference 2017 here today.
Present were Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and state Health Department director Datuk Dr M. Sukumar.
Dr Subramaniam was responding to a posting on Lim’s Facebook page on Monday, where he expressed hope that projects to upgrade hospitals and health clinics in the state, promised by the ministry, would be implemented without any delay.
On a separate matter, he said the ministry’s Medical Device Authority (MDA) had confiscated more than 100 illegal medical devices sold in the open market, including through social media and the Internet.
He said since 2015, the ministry had also issued 109 warnings and investigated companies which sold unregistered medical devices.
“It is MDA’s responsibility in ensuring that all medical devices sold to the people are safe for use. There are new innovations every single day.
“We do not want the people to be conned and exposed to any kind of danger, especially involving beauty products which use unsafe medical devices,” he added.
MDA was set up under the Medical Device Act 2012 as a regulatory body to enforce laws with regards to medical devices.