IPOH: Hospital Fatimah, one of the country’s leading non-profit private hospitals, will soon be able to offer cancer treatment to residents in Ipoh and its surrounding areas.

Its CEO Dr Lim Chie Kean, said the Oncology Centre is expected to be ready by 2011. The ground-breaking ceremony was held in March this year. He was speaking during the launch of Fatimah Hospital’s family day celebrations here on Nov 29.

Dr Lim said the hospital had also obtained a renewal of its two-year licence recently. It was also awarded, for the second time, a full three-year accreditation from the Malaysian Society of Quality in Health.

"This is meaningful because the standards for accreditation and for licensing complement one another,” he said. The 223-bedded hospital has been re-certified by the Quality Management System ISO9001/2008.

The family day themed 1 Fatimah was launched by Dr Lim together with Brother of Mercy Dr Patrick Liew, who is chairman of Exco, Fatimah Hospital, Bro Wolfgang Widmann, a member of the board and Dr Mohamed Abdul Kadir. As they set off giant crackers filled with confetti, the crowd joined in the fun, cheering them on. Generous, warm and unpretentious, Fatimah Hospital’s family day was designed to welcome a gathering of all its staff and their families.

The event which attracted 1,000 adults and 300 children, accommodated everyone. For the children there were colouring and drawing contests, horse and pony rides, tattoo and face painting, clowns who sculpted balloons and a giant slide. Teens enjoyed the telematch games while senior citizens enjoyed an SMS contest.

The crowd was entertained with dance performances, lucky draws and award presentations to children of staff members who had obtained excellent results in their examinations.

The hospital management also took pains to take care of the environment and taught the importance of being ecofriendly. People were asked to bring along their own food containers. Portable wash basins were provided for washing up.

Popular and traditional food was served including chicken burgers, popiah, satay, mee rebus, grilled lamb, apom, tau foo fah, cendol, ice cream and Ipoh’s famous white coffee.

Hospital Fatimah’s history dates back to 1952 when the Brothers of Mercy came to the then Malaya and started providing basic medical services to the people in Kinta and Province Wellesley, under the auspices of the Catholic Welfare Services.

The hospital was finally built after donations from a West German charitable organization and the Brothers of Mercy headquarters, local philanthropists, organizations and well-wishers. It was officially opened in 1974 and is now run by lay people.