KUCHING: The new Sri Aman Hospital II is completed and expected to begin operating in August, says a Sarawak deputy minister.

       State deputy Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister Michael Tiang said final inspection, testing and commissioning of the new hospital were currently being carried out.

       He said the existing Sri Aman Hospital had been upgraded to a minor specialist hospital in 2011 with specialities in internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology as well as psychiatry.

       "When the upcoming Sri Aman Hospital II is fully operational, an additional three specialities will be included, namely general surgery, orthopaedics and anaesthesiology," he told Dayang Noorazah Awang Sohor (GPS-Lingga) during question time in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (May 18).

       Tiang added that the new hospital will have 16 dialysis machines, adding to the 11 dialysis machines in the existing Sri Aman Hospital.

       "The machines are sufficient to cater to the total number of dialysis patients in Sri Aman, including those from Lingga," he said.

       Located in Simanggang town, about 190km from here, the new Sri Aman Hospital was approved in 2007 but faced delays, with construction only starting in 2016.

       During a site visit last Dec 15, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the long-awaited new hospital would serve as the main hub of health services in the Sri Aman division once operational.

       He also said the new hospital would have 108 beds, in line with the government's target to achieve a ratio of 2.06 beds for every 1,000 residents by 2025.