SPECIAL REPORT After malfunctioning air-conditioning units left patients and healthcare professionals sweating in several public hospitals, lifts that fail to rise to the occasion have left staff and patients huffing and puffing in another hospital.

‘Another Malaysian hospital horror story’, reads the title of an email sent to Malaysiakini , upon inquiries sent asking for further tales of nagging concerns behind the doors of our local public hospitals.

In the first of this three-part special report, we take a closer look at one hospital feeling the impact of a government policy - introduced in 1997 for a 15-year period - to appoint third-party companies as Hospital Support Services (HSS) providers.