SUBANG JAYA, May 21: The much anticipated and long-awaited mini government hospital in Subang Jaya, is expected to see not one but two years of delay and coming into reality only in 2028.
Weekly Echo in March this year reported Subang Member of Parliament Wong Chen saying that the hospital will see a further one year of delay and coming into operations in 2027 with work to commence in 2025. The latest information from his office has now put the date of operations in 2028.
The hospital has long been a been a matter of controversy between the Ministry of Health of previous, current government and the state’s representives with funds for the hospital being a major bone of contention, while the people of Subang Jaya have been told for more than a decade to “patiently” wait for a Klinik Kesihatan in their area.
The population of Subang Jaya city is more than a million while corporate companies’ contribution to the country’s tax income alone runs into billions of ringgit.
However, the city is yet to have even a small government health clinic of its own while those who cannot afford the fees of the many private hospitals and clinics in the area travel to the Klinik Kesihatan in Kelana Jaya, Puchong, Shah Alam or the general hospitals of Klang and Kuala Lumpur.
Responding to a recent query from Weekly Echo on the progress of the hospital, the MP’s office spokesperson said that Wong will be addressing the issue of further delay in Parliament during the June/July sitting.
Meanwhile, a report in the SJ Echo said that Wong will be “hot on the heels of the Ministry of Health and the Selangor State Health Department to seek a detailed schedule for the construction of Subang Jaya’s Klinik Kesihatan in USJ1.”
Work on the RM50mil much-needed facility is scheduled to begin in the last quarter of this year and is expected to be fully completed by 2028.
The report quoted Wong saying that land-clearing at the site of the Klinik Kesihatan in USJ1 had been undertaken but he had yet to receive any updates on the detailed schedule for the construction.
“I have written to the Ministry of Health, Selangor Health Department, Selangor Public Works Department, Selangor Lands and Mines Department and the Subang Jaya City Council to request for a thorough briefing and update session on the construction plans.
“I have asked for a timeline for the ground-breaking ceremony, the schedule of construction as well as when construction will be completed. I have also asked for when the klinik will be operational,” Wong said.
The Klinik Kesihatan will be built on a 4.238-acre (17,140 sq m) land in USJ1, approximately the size of two football fields. Once operational, it will have the capacity to attend to 500-800 patients at any given time.
The facility will offer a range of services, including outpatient and emergency departments, a pharmacy with a drive-thru facility, imaging services, maternal and child health care, pathology, dental services, and rehabilitation departments.
Meanwhile, a resident of Subang Jaya, Manuel, who expressed great satisfaction during an interview with Weekly Echo in February last year about plans coming through for the hospital, and who subsequently lamented the scrapping off the project in 2022 by the previous government, said he was disappointed with the news of further delay.
“We need a government hospital now. We are all aging and it is not fair to be taxed by private hospitals’ high fees or undertake long travels to hospital outside Subang.”
Another resident, Selvam, who travels to Hospital KL for his wound dressing, said the government should prioritise health care for people regardless of where they are staying.
“Not all people living in Subang Jaya can afford clinic fees and private hospitals. The government has to be fair.”
— WE