The Malaysian Insight

THE Penang Islamic Hospital – the first such hospital in the northern region - is expected to be ready in 2022, two years later from originally planned.

The cost to build the 15-storey full-fledged private hospital has also gone up by RM50 million, making the cost RM250 million instead of the RM200 million previously announced, Penang Islamic Foundation (YIPP) chairman Mansor Othman said.

The shariah-compliant hospital, he said, will have 200 beds, with 20 beds reserved for the “asnaf” (the poor) for charity cases, and 600 parking lots.

YIPP signed a lease agreement with the Penang Islamic Council (MAINPP) to build the hospital on a 1 hectare wakaf land on Jalan Mayang Pasir in Bayan Baru today.

Building approval for the project had been obtained from the Penang Island City Council in July last year.

YIPP has also appointed the An Nur Hasanah Specialist Hospital (HPAN) as the operator to manage the hospital. HPAN is a shariah-compliant hospital operator in Bangi, Selangor.

MAINPP president Abdul Malik Abul Kassim said many less fortunate and poor people can benefit from the proposed hospital, which will be operated on the wakaf and zakat concepts.

“The hospital has to be profitable, but it will also operated in line with the wakaf and zakat concepts. For example, it will take charity cases for the poor who can’t afford treatment.

“We can explore this further as we go along,” Malik said.

Meanwhile, MAINPP also signed a memorandum of collaboration with Khalaz Inspired Sdn Bhd to train the asnaf in online entrepreneurship.

Microcredit will be given to the participants of the training programme to later run online businesses and earn money from commissions.

Malik said MAINPP has not set a target on how many asnaf individuals will be able to get out of poverty from such programmes.

“We are working on setting up a database to get the numbers,” he said.

Malik also announced that Zakat Pulau Pinang has collected RM114 million in tithe last year, exceeding its RM103 million target.

The collection target for this year is RM125 million, he said.

He further announced the appointment of Amran Hazali as the new Zakat Pulau Pinang chief executive officer. Amran replaces the previous CEO who was charged with multiple counts of graft two years ago.

Amran previously served at Pusat Zakat Selangor and the Zakat Collection Centre of the Federal Territories Islamic Council.

Malik said Zakat Pulau Pinang had since improved on its internal weaknesses to ensure accountability and integrity in its operations. – February 22, 2019.