PUNCAK ALAM: The Universiti Teknologi Mara Teaching Hospital (HPUiTM) in Puncak Alam will start its operation in stages beginning April 5, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad.

She said the RM599 million teaching hospital consists of a 10-storey building with 400 beds; 98 specialist clinics; 17 operating theatres; 17 wards and 16 dialysis chairs as well as learning facilities that can accommodate up to 750 students at any one time.

Other facilities included a surau that can accommodate 180 people and a residence for housemen and nurses, she said.

Noraini said the teaching hospital was more than just a centre for the dissemination of medical knowledge as it also functioned as a regular hospital that provides healthcare services and a platform that would encourage efforts to create innovations in science and medicine.

"Therefore, the government hopes that this HPUiTM will give the local community more access to quality medical services especially to the three million people residing in Northern Selangor," she said in her speech at the handing over of the HPUiTM project here yesterday.

Noraini said her ministry estimated that a total of 500,000 people living in Puncak Alam would get access to quality healthcare services provided by the teaching hospital.

"It is also understood that with the current population, UiTM projects that the Return Of Investment (ROI) which involves medical expenses either for outpatient or inpatient treatment at HPUiTM in 30 years can reach up to RM56 billion," she said.

--BERNAMA