Visiting the Temerloh Hospital site

June 29, 2004
Visiting the Temerloh Hospital site

It was a rare privilege for me to join a weekly site inspection of the Temerloh Hospital currently under construction. This hospital is to serve the central Pahang region and once completed will be the most advanced hospital in the state. The cost of this complex is astronomical and the sheer size of it is massive.
temerloh1.jpg


Setting itself apart from the 'government hospital' image we, the 'rakyat' are used to, the main entrance lobby is finished with the highest specification comparable to that of a hotel or the newer private hospitals. The lobby sports a large glass-roofed atrium with the walls and flooring finished in local stone (granite and marble). The high tech looking porch and luxuriously finished lobby is both spacious and welcoming.
temerloh4.jpg

We were taken to this area where one may use a certain apparatus meant for messages to be sent via some kind of vacuum/pneumatic apparatus to departments on different floors. Pretty neat gadget to have around I think.



temerloh3.jpg

The site inspection allowed us to gain access to most of the hospital complex which includes a training centre where there is an auditorium that seats 300 people. Apart from that, I visited the pediatrics ward as well as an Operating theater. An architect quipped, 'the only other time you are allowed in here is when you undergo an operation yourself'. The equipment in this hospital is all state of the art and the most up to date. It makes me wonder if we do have the human resources to match the sophistication of the new equipment in this hospital.

Hospitals require specific planning and thus it has developed into a highly specialized branch of architecture. The heavy requirements of a modern medical facility requires hospital planners to have experience and knowledge acquired through specialized study and years of practice.
temerloh2.jpg

I was impressed with the design of the staff housing which is also on the same site. The apartment blocks remind me of newer HDB housing developments in Singapore, with the piloti at the ground level and the tropical 'sun shading' consideration together with contemporary design accents such as feature walls with low windows covering most of the wall.

I do hope that the modern design of the Temerloh Hospital will prove attractive to aspiring medical practitioners. The misconception that housmanship will be in some god-forsaken place such as (say) Temerloh would, on the contrary, prove to be quite an experience with the housing and a working environment rivaling luxury condos and private hospitals in KL.

blog.davidteoh.com/ archives/2004/06/