Petronas was once again put in the limelight in Parliament today but this time the topic was not petrol or subsidy but about its five-star Prince Court Medical Centre. Well done Azmin. You got him. More story.
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MPs query Petronas' 5-star hospital
Sun2surf
KUALA LUMPUR (June 25, 2008): National petroleum company Petronas was again attacked by MPs during question time in the Dewan Rakyat (Parliament) today when they queried its five-star Prince Court Medical Centre (PCMC) in the city centre.
Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) asked the Prime Minister the rationale for Petronas to venture into private hospital services given the many private medical centres in the country.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz said Petronas' venture into the health sector was done after considering the commercial returns.
"It is also part of Petronas' initiative to meet its corporate social responsibility (CSR), in line with its corporate mission to contribute towards the people and country's prosperity.
"The setting-up of PCMC is also to complement the government's efforts to provide medical service in line with its health tourism programme," he said, adding PCMC offered world-class health service to Malaysians.
It also provides specialist services in critical diseases such as cancer (oncology), heart and lung, women and children, urology, nephrology and men’s health and plastic surgery, cosmotology, dermatology and burns.
"PCMC is the only private hospital in the country equipped with hyperbaric chamber equipment that provided quick recovery in the treatment of fire victims," Amirsham said.
He said PCMC is also cooperating with the Medical University of Vienna (MUV), the biggest medical research university in Europe, based in Vienna, Austria.
"MUV's expertise can be transferred to PCMC when their doctors serve here. This cooperation enables PCMC doctors to get expert views in the fields of tele-radiology, tele-pathology and tele-cytogenetics through tele-medicine with MUV," he added.
Such a partnership, he said, benefits Malaysians as they could get specialist service at reasonable charges, adding some of the services were not available in other private hospitals in the country.
"PCMC is also expected to attract more foreign patients in line with the country's effort to develop medical tourism. Since this field has yet to be explored fully, Petronas' involvement here does not pose any competition to other private hospitals," he added.
To Azmin’s question, he said PCMC’s construction had cost RM544 million while its management cost is RM11.5 million a year.
To his supplementary question, Amirsham said Petronas does not intend to set up a fund for the poor to enable them to seek treatment from PCMC because they could still use the facilities if they were referred by government hospitals.
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