Haj hospital finished soon

Haj hospital finished soon

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health, Sujudi, said late last week
that the construction of Jakarta Haj Hospital in Pondok Gede,
East Jakarta, will be completed by early November.

"When it begins operation in November the hospital is expected
to employ 200 highly qualified doctors," Sujudi said during his
inspection of the hospital, which is located inside the haj
dormitory complex in Pondok Gede.

During the visit the minister was accompanied by Governor
Surjadi Soedirdja, East Jakarta Mayor Sudarsono and some
officials from the religious affairs ministry.

The 375-bed hospital, named "Syuhada Mina" or Martyrs of Mina,
was built in the memory of the 700 Indonesian pilgrims killed in
a stampede inside the Al-Muaisim tunnel in Mina, Saudi Arabia, in
1990.

The government also built three other haj hospitals in
Surabaya, East Java, Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi, Medan in
North Sumatra. They are also named Syuhada Mina.

Former minister of religious affairs Munawir Syadzali said
earlier that the hospital will be used by haj pilgrims during the
haj season, while the rest of the time it will be used by the
general public.

The 14,000 square-meter hospital is built on one hectare of
land.

Soenarjudardji, an assistant to the secretary of the city
administration, said that the hospital is built at a cost of Rp
23 billion (US$10.6 million) but thus far the committee had been
only able to acquire Rp 10.1 billion.

To deal with the financial shortage, Soenarjudardji said, the
committee had tried to raise more funds from various sources such
as city administration, businessmen, the 1995 to 1997 haj
pilgrims and a loan from Bank DKI, a city owned bank.

President Soeharto, in his capacity as chairman of
the Amal Bakti Muslim Pancasila Foundation, has donated Rp 2
billion for the hospital construction while the Saudi government
has donated US$3.6 million.

Soenarjudardji also said that the construction of the hospital
is behind schedule because 85 percent of it should have been done
by now, "But only 82 percent has been completed," he said.

He said that the construction was disrupted by the traffic
problem in the area during the haj season in the last February to
May period.

The construction is being done by PT Jaya Konstruksi Manggala
Pratama, a private construction company.(03)