Sultanah Bahiyah HOSPITAL DELAYS; Samy Blamed HEALTH MINISTRY & Excused Contractor; CHUA Denied Claim: "SAMY Representing & Championing CONTRACTORS?"

……UPDATE: Mar 06 07, 10:15pm; and the Response from Samy Vellu
March 06, 2007 17:12 PM
Everybody Is Wrong Except Health Ministry, Says Samy Vellu

SEREMBAN, March 6 (Bernama) -- "It's better for me not to say anything. Let them talk. We were wrong. "The Works Ministry) was wrong, the contractor was wrong, the sub-contractors were wrong, those who gave the land were also wrong. Only the Health Ministry was right. Thank you," said Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu here, Tuesday. He was responding to the statement by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek who denied that the delay in completing the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star was caused by his ministry's decision to change the scope of work repeatedly.

Samy Vellu said this after the launching of the Eubiq and Grounding Sentry System (GSS), a Revolutionary Power Outlet System, here. Dr Chua also said he could not understand why certain government agencies were so keen to champion contractors that they stressed in newspapers the project was delayed not because of the contractors, but because the Health Ministry often changed the scope of work. Asked on the statement by Deputy Health Minister, Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad who admitted that the ministry had made several alterations on the hospital, Samy Vellu said, "they can say what they like".

Abdul Latif said at a function in Seremban yesterday that the changes were made to provide the people with the latest facilities. "We want the latest equipments for the benefit of the people. Surely we don't want old equipments that are fit for museums," he said. On the toll collection at the Sungai Nyiur Toll Plaza at the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR) which was postponed, Samy Vellu said his ministry was still holding talks with the concessionaire and this may take a month.
The toll collection was postponed after the state government, residents and several non-government orgnisations (NGOs) appealed that the toll should not be implemented until an alternative road was constructed.= = = = =

UPDATE: 6^th March; 12.57pm

Who is the BOSS in the Health Ministry? The Minister Denies the BLAME from Samy Vellu But the Deputy Minister Accepts the Blame; They DON’T talk & Communicate?

If you read the NST, there is this report (below) quoting Chua Sooi Lek;’s Deputy accepting the blame. So who is correct? Do we need an arbiter to resolve this issue? Both are doctors and have been fed with different information and came to different conclusions? Or the Deputy is on different side of the camp.
We are not privy to all the details but his Deputy Dr Latiff was quoted “the original design plans, including the specifications for the medical facilities at the hospital, were completed in 2001”. But structurally, were the overall construction of the hospital buildings delayed? Surely there were not much changes to the architectural plans and the “shell” of the hospital should have not been delayed too long – read the problems brought up by the Kedah government. How can the contractor be blameless at all? Not even 1%? The extension of time was to add additional facilities to upgrade the obsolete specifications. If they cannot be done as promised then they should pay a penalty. What an expensive learning experience for this project?

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Delay of Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital project: Health Ministry accepts blame

06 Mar 2007; Ridzwan Abdullah, NST

SEREMBAN: The Health Ministry has accepted the blame for the delay of the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital project in Alor Star, but reasoned that it was only to make sure the building was safe for use. Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the ministry had asked the Works Ministry to make changes to the specifications and scope of work for the project. "But we had to do this to make sure the building is safe, besides meeting the required medical technology standards," he said at the countdown launch of the MS ISO 9001:2000 certification and accreditation of the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital here.

Present was hospital director Dr Jaafar Che Mat. On Sunday, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the four-year delay on the RM565 million Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital was caused by the Health Ministry. Samy Vellu claimed the Health Ministry had made last-minute changes to the project. The project, which started in August 2000, was expected to be ready by December 2003 but the completion date was extended several times, with the last on Dec 31 last year. The delay had sparked a war of words between Samy Vellu and Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Dr Abdul Latiff said the original design plans, including the specifications for the medical facilities at the hospital, were completed in 2001. However, there were too many changes made to them in the following two years. "They (changes) were made to keep up with the changes in medical technology. If some of the facilities were retained from the original plans, they would have been rendered obsolete by now." The 770-bed hospital, built by MH Projects Sdn Bhd, is now scheduled to be handed over to the Health Ministry by the middle of next month. Dr Abdul Latiff hoped that the experiences gained from this project would prevent similar problems for future hospital projects.
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ABOVE: The new Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital will be handed over on 15th Mar 2007 said Samy BUT Chua S L disputed the date to April 07

This is another classical case how Samy can settle most problems with “twist and turn” to protect the faulty contractors. Now why is he doing this all the time? If contractors are at fault they are liable for daily penalty payments for delays running into thousands of dollars. So why must the government accept these penalty payments if these can be channel to somebody else?

In this hospital delays, Samy is putting it squarely on the Health Ministry for agreeing to the additional facilities for neurology & cardiology. But surely these additional do not take another 3 years to do as the project was scheduled to complete on 2003. Samy chooses to to keep one-eye closed and ignore the complaints from Kedah officials and even the Sultan on “contractor kept changing its project director and subcontractor besides facing a labour shortage”. He is larger and bigger than anybody figuratively and physically also. He has NO fear and shame in all his wrong doings. Is he always in the right?

This is the first time we have an alert and no nonsense Minister of Helath questioning the unusual and nefarious actions of Samy Vellu in “representing the contractor and championing them”. If Chua denied the blame, then it must be the Contractor!. Then why is Samy protecting them? Call in the ACA if he is on the take. Even if the ACA is called in, Samy will always have excuses for ALL questions. Over the 30 years , he has become a Master & “PhD Holder” in ALL kinds of Delays Settlement by hook or crook or by magic!
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Chua Denies Hospital's Delay Due To Health Ministry's Fault

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek,:"I don't understand why Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu did not pinpoint at the contractor, but instead put the blame on our ministry"

PUTRAJAYA, March 5 (Bernama) -- Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, Monday denied that the delay in the completion of Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star was due to the ministry's fault as it kept revising its scope of services. He said services such as neurology and cardiology departments were incorporated in the hospital at the request of Kedah state government. "As the ministry was concerned with the request, we had agreed to it. As such, the new scope was added and we would like to stress that the changes and the incorporation of the new scope was made only once," he told reporters after meeting fast food restaurant operators, here Monday.

He was commenting on a report Sunday quoting Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu as saying that the contractor was not at fault in the delay and attributed it to the construction of additional facilities. He said the completion date was extended not at the request of the contractor but to enable it to build the additional facilities requested by the client, the Health Ministry. "I don't understand why certain quarters in the government agency are so interested in championing the contractor and told the press that the delay was not the fault of the contractor but the Health Ministry which kept changing the job scope.

"We made the changes only once, even then it was at the request of the Kedah state government," said Chua. On the other hand, he said according to the Kedah Health Department, the contractor kept changing its project director and subcontractor besides facing a labour shortage. "I don't understand why Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu did not pinpoint at the contractor, but instead put the blame on our ministry.

As if he is representing the contractor and championing them. "To my knowledge, this is an unusual thing because we can only accept the hospital once it is completed," he said. Dr Chua said the ministry would not accept a faulty hospital either physically or in its facilities for the safety and well-being of the patients would be at stake. "If we feel that it is not ready yet, not adhering to the standards, we will not accept it. "And from what I understand, it would only be ready in April and not March as reported in the press," he said

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March 04, 2007 22:16 PM
HSB Delay Not Due To Contractor - Samy Vellu

ALOR STAR, March 4 (Bernama) -- The delay in the completion of the Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah (HSB) in Jalan Langgar, here is not due to any failure on the part of the contractor, said Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu Sunday. He said the delay was due to the fact that the contractor had to comply with new instructions from the Health Ministry which aimed to turn the HSB as one of the top hospitals in the country.

Speaking at a media conference after inspecting final preparations for the HSB which cost about RM557 million, Samy Vellu said the HSB had facilities for cardiac treatment which was on par with the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur. He said the HSB, which would have 730 beds in 23 wards and 11 intensive care units, was now 99.75 percent completed and it was expected to be fully completed in a few more days before being handed over to the Health Ministry on March 15.

ABOVE Ultra new Hospital costing RM557 million has ultra modern up to the state rooms (BELOW)

Construction work on the HSB started on Oct 16, 2000 and it was scheduled to be completed in 2003. However to date, it had yet to be handed over to the Health Ministry which resulted in complaints being made by various quarters including criticisms from the state government and the Sultan of Kedah. Samy Vellu, who arrived at the hospital grounds in a helicopter, spent about an hour inspecting final preparations for the hospital. He said among the renovations at the HSB were upgrading the VIP ward into a Royal Ward and several facilities such as the third stage Biosafety forensic laboratory to control dangerous diseases.