Gov't springs into action following hospital ceiling collapse

The Government has sprung into action following the collapse a portion of the ceiling at Serdang Hospital this morning.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. S Subramaniam expressed that his ministry also views the incident ‘very seriously’.

“Of course, this is related to the quality of work of contractors... I’ve asked Hospital Serdang and Public Works Department(PWD) to give me a report of the incident and check on the status,” said Subramaniam.

He said that his ministry would ask PWD to ensure that contractors are up to standard.

“I mean this is on the design, structure, on the building standards on the contractors given the job. Because we (the government) are the authority, we must enforce these things,” said Subramaniam.

Asked if there should be a review of all hospitals, Subramaniam said that the monitoring is a continuous process.

“That is something that goes on, in terms of maintenance, if there is evidence of structural issues then we take remedial actions,” he said.

Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof told reporters at the Parliament lobby that he was still waiting for a detailed report.

However, he stressed that the government would not hesitate to take action, if the contractor of the building was found to be at fault.

Meanwhile, Pas Kuala Kedah MP Dr Azman Ismail weighed in on the issue, saying that the government should set up a special committee to review all government buildings to avoid further mishaps.

Earlier this morning, a portion of the ceiling near the maternity ward at Serdang Hospital caved-in.

No one has been reportedly injured from the 2.55am incident.

This was the third time that such a collapse happened, but sources aid that there were "at least 10 more incidents" that were not made public.

In Aug 13, 2012, three nurses and a female medical officer at the Serdang Hospitals' Emergency Department were injured when 15 ceiling pieces measuring 2 ft x 2 ft each collapsed at 2.45am.

The first reported incident in Jan 2011 involved the main lobby where no one was reportedly injured in a collapse minutes after midnight.

The hospital has been operating since December 2005 and was built to serve the roughly 570,000 population of Serdang, Putrajaya, Kajang and Bangi.

The hospital cost RM690mil to construct and is one of the e-hospital networks envisioned by the Government.