'Hospital not a refugee camp' advice
Published on: Friday, June 22, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Those visiting family members warded at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 are advised to make use of the hospital's dormitory facilities instead of sleeping on the hospital lobby and making it appear like a refugee camp. The advice came from State Health and People's Well-Being Minister Stephen Wong during his visit to the hospital, Thursday. "Those who stay in the ward with their loved ones, maybe they can be excused, but those who opt to sleep in or outside the lobby should really consider staying at the dormitory provided for them.
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"Perhaps the hospital can take measures on this, for those sleeping in the lobby, they have to go to the place provided, unless the dormitory is full," he said. He said they are considerate in providing convenience to the public but the public also have to work together by making use of the facilities, otherwise the hospital will look like a refugee camp. "You go to the hospital lobby and see all the people sleeping there, my goodness," he exclaimed. Wong also took note of the lack of dormitory facilities during his visit to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2 on Wednesday night.
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"The dormitory is located not too far from the hospital building, I think if there is such facilities here the relatives of the patients should cooperate with the hospital. There is no reason, when we offer you a place to stay that you refuse and prefer to stay in the lobby."The hospital is not a refugee camp, we want to do the best and whatever shortcomings we will improve but we need the people to also work together with us," he said.
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QE1 Director Dr Heric Corray said the hospital has a dormitory facility with 40 beds (20 females and 20 males). He noted that occupancy is 78pc while 22pc is still vacant, adding there are some not very keen on using the facilities which are free. "They would rather sit or lie down in or outside the ward while waiting for their loved ones who are being treated," he said. He said those wishing to stay at the dormitory can stay as long as they need to stay for the reasons that their families had to be admitted. "There is no time limit, and for those who prefer to stay in the lobby the most is a week or so and we will ask them to leave or ask them to go downstairs if they don't want to stay in the dormitory."Sometimes they will sit around in the lobby, but from the lobby we have to slowly encourage them to the dormitory, but of course we cannot force them," he said. Meanwhile, the Ministry would be working closely with the Sabah Health Department in addressing health concerns, especially shortage of equipment. "I have asked the hospital to give us a working paper, whatever has been submitted to the previous government, give us a new one and we will follow up from there," said Wong. Besides Dr Heric, also present were Sabah Health Director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi and the ministry's permanent secretary Janet Chee. "I understand that the hospital is having problems in certain areas in addition to the need for some funds as well as equipment that has been sought from the previous supplier which cost about RM13 million. "All this is urgent and of necessity, otherwise some of the rooms without this equipment cannot function well," he said. Some of the equipment included neurosurgery, pathology scopes, orthopaedics scopes, medical, patient monitors and ventilators. Wong said the matter would be brought up at the meeting with their counterpart in Kuala Lumpur on June 27. "We will get the working paper and see how to acquire our power from the federal to get the ball rolling," he said. In addition to that, he pointed out the insufficient number of parking space at the hospital, adding that they will look for a solution to this. "We were told that a 'park and ride' or shuttle service to the hospital has been initiated, but most patients and their families prefer to come to the hospital in their own car. "We will find a solution to the parking space or see how we can encourage people to use the 'park and ride' initiative or we can look into the possibility of how to improve our parking facilities in Queen 1," he said. On another matter, Wong said he is also looking into the possibility of getting major hospitals computerised. "A few major hospitals are understandably still not computerised, I think with all the talk about Information Technology, it is high time we should have this. "I will be working with the hospital on this, to get the input from them and see how we can work it out," he said. He also noted that QE1 has reverted to the old queuing system where the elderly and those with disabilities are given priority.This came following public complaints highlighted by the Daily Express recently. "There are six counters and three of have been dedicated especially for the elderly and those with disabilities, the hospital decided to return to its old system because the public feels that the old system is better. "We will follow the wish of the public, after all we are here to serve the people as best we can," he said. Meanwhile, Dr Heric explained the two instances for the unavailability of the medical equipment, one is due to the company being unable to supply despite initially accepting the purchase orders but then withdrawing. "They didn't have time to actually bring the equipment across from overseas, most of our equipment are manufactured overseas, the time given to us was too short for us to actually purchase them.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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