HCM CITY – The HCM City People’s Council on Wednesday (March 13) set a deadline for completion of a facility at the Oncology Hospital in District 9 that was previously scheduled to be finished by the end of 2017.

On April 30, a number of floors for health examination are expected to be finished, and inpatient rooms will be completed by June 30.

The entire second facility is expected to open by December.

Thi Thị Tuyết Nhung, head of the cultural and social affairs board under the People’s Council, also asked the city Department of Health to provide legal assistance to the builder so that disbursement could be speeded up.

She said that VNĐ200 billion (US$8.6 million) from the city’s treasury could be disbursed first.

At a meeting with the board held on Wednesday, Võ Văn Bé, general director of Thuận Việt Construction & Investment Company, said that slow disbursement had been delaying construction.

Construction on the project began in June 2016, with total capital of more than VNĐ5.8 trillion ($249.7 million).

The 10-storey facility covers 5.5 hectares and has 1,000 beds to serve inpatients and a 300sq.m helicopter landing yard.

It was expected to be completed by the end of 2017, but was delayed to January this year.

Lê Văn Dũng, head of the health department’s management board for investment and construction, said that the delay had been caused by rains and storms affecting construction progress, as well as changes in the facility’s design.

The time that was needed to choose and approve materials and equipment for the facility also contributed to the delay, he said.

Dr Phạm Xuân Dũng, director of the Oncology Hospital in Bình Thạnh District, said his hospital had trained 290 doctors three years ago to work at the second facility.

When the facility opens, the hospital will recruit more nurses, Dũng said, adding that it had prepared an IT system that will connect the two facilities. — VNS