Health Ministry seeks to reduce power bills at 28 general hospitals

KUALA LUMPUR: In line with environment-friendly measures, the Health Ministry intends to reduce the annual RM115 million electricity bills incurred by 28 hospitals nationwide.
The minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, said the steps would also include changing the air-conditioning and lighting systems of the hospitals.

“We hope to reduce the annual bill by at least three per cent this year, and a minimum 10 per cent next year.
“We will use the green environment project methods which have been seen to be able to reduce our (hospitals’) electricity bills,” he told reporters after launching the WATTS (Where Aid Turns To Sustainability) Project here yesterday.
He said, to date, efforts to make hospitals environment-friendly were launched at Klang Valley-based hospitals and were expected to be expanded nationwide.
The WATTS project is the theme of the Truly Loving Company (TLC) campaign ‘Promise Me’ which enters its third year to fulfil the aspirations of 12 welfare bodies, with a view to reduce electricity bills, which could represent up to 30 per cent of their operation expenditure.
Basically, this is their contribution towards sustainability and welfare bodies could save in the long term and at the same time, protect the environment.

Meanwhile, Liow said the ministry lauded a proposal to create mental community centres nationwide, with a view to look after discharged mental patients to return to society.
He noted that a community centre which was set up by a non-governmental organisation in Muar, had shown positive signs whereby, patients had fully recovered and led normal lives.
“Mental patients need the support of the commuity when they recover. Without their family and the community’s support, their illnesses will return,” he said.
Furthermore, the minister said, the government had also created community centres in government clinics to enable those whose mental illnesses were not serious, to obtain their medication.
In the meantime, Liow, who is also MCA deputy president, praised national number one badminton player Datuk Lee Chong Wei, who gave an energetic performance and took the fight to China’s champion Lin Dan in the finals of the men’s individual badminton event at the Olympics yesterday.
He said, although Chong Wei did not bring home the country’s first gold medal, he had become the nation’s ‘hero’.
“That was a great game. He (Chong Wei) played very well. We are proud of him. He had actually united Malaysians where everyone supported him last night,” he said. — Bernama

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/08/07/health-ministry-seeks-to-reduce-power-bills-at-28-general-hospitals/#ixzz22pVI1M1l