PAPAR (Sabah): Health facilities here are to be enhanced when health offices and clinics, including a health complex, will be proposed to be built under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

Deputy Minister of Health, Datuk Rosnah Abd Rashid Shirlin, said to date health facilities in Papar were satisfactory but it could not be denied more facilities were needed to cope with the growing population.

"Proposal to set up two district health offices in Kinarut and Bongawan, and new health clinics in Bongawan and Kimanis were actually included in the Ninth Malaysia Plan and pushed forward to the 10th Malaysia Plan.

"Especially for Kimanis, which is part of the Sabah Gas and Oil Terminal (SGOT), where the population is expected to reach 10,000," she told reporters after visiting the Papar district health office and 'Klinik Kesihatan Ibu dan Anak (KKIA) Papar' near here today.

Rosnah, who is also Member of Parliament for Papar, said a health complex for the Papar district would be proposed under the 10th Malaysia Plan to maintain local health clinics and offices.

"The Papar district is expanding, the population grows at more than three per cent (yearly). But we will focus first on staff appointments as we do not want a white elephant complex after there is approval for the complex," she said.

Papar, located 50km from Kota Kinabalu, has a population of about 111,000 (2005 statistics).

Rosnah said Papar was among districts that strived to achieve and get recognition as an Area Health Unit (AHU) to join 10 other districts that had that status in the state.

Districts that have the AHU status are Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Beaufort, Keningau, Kudat, Tuaran, Beluran and Penampang.

Commenting on the the 1Malaysia clinics in Sabah, Rosnah said the four clinics located at Sulaman Sentral (Kota Kinabalu), Bandar Sri Indah (Tawau),Bandar Leila (Sandakan) and Bundusan Square(Penampang) were opened last month,"I am given to understand that there are 70 to 90 patients at each clinic each day and this number is expected to increase," Rosnah said.

She later visited the Kinarut Health Clinic.