Govt to acquire Sabah Medical Centre

KOTA KINABALU, Tues: 05-05-09

The government will buy a private hospital, Sabah Medical Centre, to help overcome the health service problem here after the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's main tower block was found to be unsafe for occupation.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in announcing this today, said he wanted the purchase process to be speeded up. "We have approved the purchase of SMC by the Health Ministry at a very reasonable price of about RM245 million and, with a little addition, we can make improvements," he said at a meet-the-people session at Padang Merdeka here today. Najib said the purchase of SMC was appropriate in view that it would take time to build a new hospital.