9th January, 2014 - YB Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam, today made a personal visitation to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang at approximately 2pm Malaysian time, in response to the pressing issue of patient congestion in this venerable Klang medical establishment.

In his statement to members of the media present, there are approximately 2000 patient cases a day here, while the number of beds in service remains at a cumbersome fraction of this.

The practical initiative set up to mitigate this situation is the construction of a RM120 million facility here that will serve as the new wing of this hospital.

This 8-storey facility will also incorporate ample parking space, and provides the additional beds to ease the serious need for increasing patient comfort and alleviating treatment process bottlenecks, especially in primary care.

This much lauded move championed by the Health Ministry has begun at the present moment, and preliminary works are underway. In spite of minor earlier hiccups to this drive for fulfilling an essential Klang community need, the land lot has been confirmed and completion of this facility is projected within 3-4 years.

In response to C21TV's inquiry into the necessity for transitional measures taken to address the present situation, the honorable Minister has also mentioned the realization of the Process Re-Engineering drive (the 2nd of 4 Main Drives slated for 2014 - under the Malaysia Health Transformation Plan spearheaded by the MOH) to begin at this hospital.

This bold initiative announced by the Health Minister himself just yesterday in a special Press Conference held in Putrajaya incorporates much awaited high level initiatives, incorporating the Human Resources Master Plan and the Medical Infrastructure Master Plan that will also see a rapid improvement in primary care and preventive medicine across the medical service line, as well as the maximization of service outputs and optimized delivery of these services under the Medical Process Re-Engineering Drive within the same Transformation Plan framework.

In actuality, this 2nd Drive of the Health Transformation Plan will see its manifestation here in Klang via the setting up of a Discharge Unit that will markedly speed up the procedural flow of patients' through the hospital's system. This Unit will serve as a waiting lounge for discharged patients, freeing up beds and wards for incoming patients who need them. Other procedural improvements to the hospital's system are expected to  commence from the following month onwards.

This system reinvention will also be introduced in other government medical establishments by extension, as the MOH seeks to continue in its role as the premier medical service provider for Malaysians in 2014.

- Corporate 21 Editorial