There’s no plan to construct a heart institute in Sabah as yet the RM80 million federal allocation will go to upgrading facility at Queen Elizabeth Hospital II.

This was noted by Sabah Community Development and People-Wellbeing Minister Datuk James Ratib on the allocation for a heart centre by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently.

Ratib who is Sugut assemblyman had earlier noted that Sabah has allocated a 10-acre land near Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Kota Kinabalu for the purpose of a Heart Institute.

The present heart centre according to him has been operational since 2012, he noted.

“Currently, the operating theatre can handle a maximum of four surgeries per day.

With the planned upgrade, we aim to increase this capacity to 10 heart surgeries daily,” James said at the Sabah Legislative Assembly, Tuesday.

Ratib said this when questioned by Warisan-Sulabayan assemblyman Datuk Jaujan Sambakong during the Question-and-answer session at the assembly.