Construction of the B153 million wing was delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis, Mr Satit explained during an inspection visit to the hospital this morning.
“We have accelerated the plan, and will begin construction soon,” he said.
Mr Satit explained that the hospital grounds occupy an area of 11 rai 3 ngan 57 square wah. Local resident Mr Gao Areerob donated 10-2-53 rai of the land, and the government bought the remaining 1-1-04 rai, he said.
Chalong Hospital was built to provide medical services to a population of 52,957 people living in three subdistricts: namely 27,012 people registered as living in Chalong, 18,806 registered as living in Rawai and 8,139 people registered as living in Karon, Mr Satit explained.
Although the hospital has been built beside the longstanding Chalong Health Promoting Hospital, which for decades served the local community as the local government medical centre, Mr Sathit today said that the hospital originally opened with the B3mn two-storey emergency accident building, which opened on Dec 28, 2015.
Construction of the four-storey outpatient building, with a usable area of 6,230 square metres, began in 2016 and was completed in 2018 under a budget of B108,100mn, he added.
Chalong Hospital for the past two years has been operating with 30 temporary inpatient beds, with serious cases transferred to Vachira hospital in Phuket Town, Mr Satit explained.
That will change with the addition of the new 156-bed inpatient wing, he said.
“The 156-bed inpatient building has been allocated a budget of B153,400,800 under the budget for the fiscal year 2020. Construction is expected to be completed and the building open to provide treatment in 2022,” Mr Satit added.
“In addition, the Put Cho Shrine [in Phuket Town] has already provided the budget for the construction of a two-storey X-ray building (Building 4) and bought the equipment for providing general X-rays and computerized x-ray (CT scan) through a donation in the amount of B14.4mn,” Mr Satit said.