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New hospital to open next month
Hospital Pasir Gudang is expected to reduce the patient load at two Johor Baru hospitals.
AFTER a five-year wait, Johor's Hospital Pasir Gudang (HPG) is set to open in phases starting next month.
Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the RM380mil hospital would begin operations by running its emergency and trauma department and general surgery department.
'The rest of the 304-bed hospital will open up in stages.
'Once fully operational next year, the hospital will have 14 specialist clinics.
'We want to ensure that all the specialist clinics are ready with the respective specialist doctors, medical team and equipment before taking in patients.'
Ling said the hospital had appointed people to key positions such as director and deputy directors and was in the process of filling more than 1,800 vacancies as approved by the Health Ministry.
So far, over 270 positions had been filled, he said, adding that more vacancies would be filled by August.
He said the state government had asked the ministry to station doctors and nurses at HPG or transfer them from other existing healthcare facilities, and this would take time.
Ling said construction for the hospital began in 2020 but there were significant setbacks due to the Covid-19 pandemic and movement restrictions.
The hospital was completed earlier this year.
At full capacity, HPG is expected to cater to 900,000 residents in Pasir Gudang and its surrounding areas.
It is also expected to reduce the patient volume at Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) and Hospital Sultan Ismail, both located in Johor Baru.
Ling said the ministry was preparing a proposal for another major healthcare project in Johor – the construction of a 1,500-bed HSA 2 near Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai.
'The proposal will be handed over to the Public Private Partnership Unit hopefully by this month, for it to be brought to the Cabinet to discuss its implementation.
'The land matters have been sorted out and technical workshops have also been held to look into what is needed for HSA 2.
'We have another major project at the existing HSA, which is to add a new building called Ambulatory Care Centre, so we want to make sure there are no conflicts between both projects.'
Previously, Ling reportedly said the HSA 2 project was to begin development in 2026 with a public-private partnership model as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his Budget 2025 speech.
HSA 2 will be built on a 28.33ha land provided by the Defence Ministry from a 202.34ha site, making it the largest hospital in Johor.
