TAWAU: People in Sabah's east coast towns have the right to enjoy better health facilities, said Tawau member of parliament Datuk Christina Liew.
She said the upgrading of healthcare facilities was long overdue after almost six decades of Sabah's independence and development.
Liew welcomed Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's announcement that the Tawau Hospital, Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kota Kinabalu would become Specialist Major Hospitals with the number of specialist services increased to 49 in each hospital.
At present, QEH provides 44 specialist services while there are 18 at the Duchess of Kent Hospital and 15 at the Tawau Hospital.
"We hope the federal government is seriously committed to making the pledge a reality, and that the plan will not be forgotten after the 15th General Election or end up as 'sick' projects," Liew said today.
Liew hoped that such projects would be completed within the scheduled period.
Going by the Tawau experience, she said there were at least three development projects in the district which had started during the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), but had yet to be accomplished.
Liew said the three projects were the Tawau Dam, Tawau Hospital upgrading works, and the Tawau Flood Mitigation Scheme.
"We are into the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025), and we look forward to the completion of the Tawau Hospital upgrading works by the end of the year (as assured by the Deputy Works Minister, Datuk Arthur Kurup, recently)," Liew added.