He said this matter should not be taken lightly as the divisional hospital without a surgeon for weeks is a very serious problem.

"We are talking about human life as Bintulu now has a population of more than 120,000", he said this at a dialogue with the 
divisional hospital director, Dr Hashim Hamzah while inspecting 
the new hospital at Jalan Nyabau here today.

Tiong said that the matter should have brought up earlier to him so that he will raise it quickily to the Ministry of Health.

He said that Bintulu should not be put in a lower priority to get the allocations of more doctors and medical specialists as Bintulu is the most industrialised town which contributed a lot to the country's revenues.

"As a responsible politician, I have to be answerable to the people. But, I could not give the same answer of medical officers were reluctants to come to Bintulu as an excuse for the shortage of doctors here", he stressed.

Earlier, Dr Hashim said that the last surgeon attached here has been on leave prior to the completion of his contract.

Moreover, he said two other doctors attached here would also be ending their services within this year and there had been no replacement yet for the vacanted positions.

However, he said the shortage of doctors and specialists were not only happened to Bintulu Hospital but also in other part of the country.

As a temporary measure to cope with the problem, he said visiting specialists were arranged to serve here.

On dealing with emergency cases, patients would still have to refer to hospitals or medical centres at the nearby towns, he added.

In the briefing, Dr Hashim also disclosed that they have reset the target to operate at the new hospital on May 21.

In order for a smooth operation removal, leaves for all staff members have been frozen and the action plan drawn out is to enable patients to move in to the new hospital within a day, he added.

Also present at the briefing were divisional Engineer of the Public Work Department here, Mr Liew Jiu Ming and contractors of the project..