This year’s Hospital Fatimah’s annual dinner was also to celebrate the hospital’s 40th anniversary, marking an important milestone in its history. The function was held at Kinta Riverfront Hotel, Ipoh, recently.
The 600-odd guests comprised a delegation of five from the Brothers of Mercy in Trier, Germany, led by The Superior General Brother Peter Berg, the Bishop of the Diocese of Penang Rt. Rev. Sebastian Francis, Chairman of the Board of Directors Brother Ambrose Heng, Chairman of the Executive Council Brother Dr Patrick Liew, Chief Executive Officer Dr Lim Chie Kean, members of the Board of Directors, doctors, nurses, support staff, visiting doctors and students and staff from the Hospital Fatimah School of Nursing.
The theme of ‘Seventies Retro’ brought colour and life to the occasion, and gave guests an opportunity to let their hair down.
In his opening address, Dr Lim said, “From a very humble beginning, we have grown from two wards and a handful of specialist doctors to our current capacity of 242 beds. We now have 33 in-house specialist doctors and 53 visiting doctors.”
“During this year, we have seen 137,000 outpatients and 19,000 patients were admitted. Although they’re generally satisfied with the care they received, we must not rest on our laurels and must continue to improve our facilities and services to provide safe and high quality healthcare to the community.
“Our immediate plan is to fill up the six floors of the 8-storey Block E Medical Centre, above the Wolfgang Cancer Centre. In the pipeline is a new cardiac catheterisation laboratory, diagnostic facilities, wards for 39 new beds, a new cytotoxic drug reconstitution and pharmacy facility, meeting rooms and an auditorium. New medical equipment will be installed as well.”
“To ease parking woes, we are going to start constructing an 8-storey car park. All these, in addition to the relocation of our Emergency Department and the introduction of more clinical disciplines, will allow us to provide high quality healthcare and more efficient and effective services to our patients and their loved ones.”
Dr Lim stressed that the hospital would continue to raise the bar to the next level of quality care, adding that the hospital would introduce more clinical disciplines for it to become a one-stop tertiary specialist hospital.
He continued, “The challenge for the coming year would be to succeed again in the 4th accreditation survey by the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health.”
Chairman of the Exco, Brother Dr Patrick Liew, in thanking the doctors and staff of the Hospital for their commitment and dedication in carrying out their responsibilities and in recognition of their hard work, announced the bonus for 2014 for the staff, much to their surprise and delight.
The event also saw recognition given to two departments of the hospital. The Best Department Exemplary Awards went to the Supply, Procurement and Distribution Department for the non-nursing section and Haemodialysis Centre for the nursing division.
Long service awards were also presented to those who have served at the hospital for ten, twenty and forty years. They received a sash, a certificate of appreciation and a gift. Mr Albic a/l Anthonisamy, an operation theatre assistant, and Madam Mah Foong Ngan, a senior seamstress, were given a thunderous round of applause for having been with the hospital since its first day, 40 years ago.
Entertainment for the night was provided by staff from both Hospital Fatimah and students from Hospital Fatimah School of Nursing. Fr. Peter Chiang from Vancouver also delivered three tracks, while the German delegation of the Brothers of Mercy in Trier performed a German religious song. Topping it all was a play on the history of Hospital Fatimah. It was directed by Datin Rosalina Ooi.
Speaking to Ipoh Echo, Dr Lim said, “Our Wolfgang Cancer Centre was opened in 2013 and we’re up-to-date on our radiation and chemotherapy equipment. We currently see about 30 patients daily for radiation and chemotherapy treatments, and we can take in more patients. Our School of Nursing, which was opened in 1994, continues to train assistant nurses. We also offer conversion programmes to train assistant nurses to registered nurses. We will soon be offering a post-basic training course in midwifery. During this trip to Ipoh, the Brothers from Germany, led by the Superior General Brother Peter Berg, made a visit to Hospital Fatimah. They were very happy with the progress we have made thus far.”
Emily
