THE opening ceremony of a new hospital building of Waibar­gi Hospital in North Okkalapa Township was held yesterday.

It was attended by State Ad­ministration Council Secretary Lt-Gen Aung Lin Dwe, Union Minister for Health Prof Dr Thet Khaing Win, Union Minister for Construction U Shwe Lay, Yan­gon Region Chief Minister U Soe Thein, Yangon Command Commander Maj-Gen Nyunt Win Swe, the donor, Chairman of AW Foundation and officials, and departmental officials of Ministry of Health.

Speaking at the event, SAC Secretary Lt-Gen Aung Lin Dwe said the SAC is providing equal medical services to rural and urban residents for communi­cable and non-communicable diseases including COVID-19 disease and fulfilling the capac­ity of government employees including health workers while providing proper instructions to access international medicines. It also carries out COVID-19 prevention, control and treat­ment activities in line with the five-point roadmap.

The newly opened building features an international care unit and labs and the hospital will be upgraded as a research and teaching centre in addition to the Infectious Disease Insti­tute.

According to the directive of the SAC Chairman, the so­lar power system is installed at the hospital unit and it is a pilot stage to save energy and miti­gate carbon dioxide emissions. Similar projects are being draft­ed to implement at hospitals under the Ministry of Health.

The new building of Wai­bargi Hospital was construct­ed in January 2021 using K6,217,719,000 donated by AW Foundation and completed in September 2022. The SAC Sec­retary and party also inspect­ed the construction site of the seven-storey building of Yangon General Hospital and the com­pletion of the new five-storey building of Kyimyindine Ortho­paedic Hospital which will be opened soon. — MNA