Specialist Clinic block for Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1
Published on: Friday, March 29, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
Some of the many outpatients who have come to be treated at the hospital can be seen above. Pic right: There are only 4 consultation rooms at QEH1.
PLANS are underway to erect a “Bangunan Klinik Pakar (Specialist Clinic Building)” at Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 (QEH1).
The medical institution presently comprises a Tower Block and Specialist Block.
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A Health Department spokesman said about RM2 million had been approved for the construction of the additional building under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (TMP).
“We are in the preliminary stages of the project which is being implemented as part of the third rolling plan for the TMP,” he said.
He said the agency hoped the new building would help to ease the overcrowding of patients and doctors in the consulting rooms at QEH1 in the long term.
“The Hospital’s administration intends to run Ambulatory Care and Urology treatment from the new building once it is ready.”
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He declined to elaborate on the estimated time of completion for the project.
He explained that “Ambulatory Care” was medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment and rehabilitation services.
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On feedback from a urology patient about the lack of privacy in the consulting rooms at QEH1, the spokesman said steps had been taken to segregate some doctor sessions involving urinary conditions.
“The Hospital’s administration places importance on keeping the personal information of its patients confidential,” he said.
“As part of its short term improvement, the consultancy of urology patients can now take place in the ‘Transrectal Ultrasound Scan (TRUS)’- room.
“Sessions, involving sensitive cases, will be conducted here. Urology patients can also request to use the TRUS room.”
LOUIS of Penampang was unhappy about the overcrowding in the consulting room, as well as the three-hour wait he claimed to have endured before being admitted to seeing the doctor.
“I arrived around 8.30pm for my appointment at the Urology Department on a Tuesday morning but was only called to the consulting room around 11.30am,” he said.
“When I walked in, I noticed that there were several doctors inside.
“Other patients kept entering and exiting the room which did not allow me much privacy to answer my doctor’s questions comfortably.”
Louis hoped the administration of QEH1 would consider allowing one doctor to each room so that patients could speak more openly with their doctors without fear of others overhearing the conversation.
The spokesman said a check of its records revealed that Louis registered at the Department at 9.18am and finished being seen by the doctor at 10.50am.
“There is no denying that our patients experienced a delay in receiving treatment,” he said, adding that a shortage of medical officers (MOs) was to blame for the hold-up.
“On the day in question, there were only eight MOs and two medical specialists on duty. Four rooms were used for consultancies at the time.
“Four other MOs were unable to come in as they were still completing their Covid- quarantine.”
As regards to the overcrowding at QEH1, he said this was “unavoidable” due to the overwhelming number of pending cases.
“According to the Hospital’s statistics for 2023, a total of 15,356 patients sought treatment here.”
About 12,057 of this number came for consultancies, according to him, while 3,299 underwent procedures at the medical intuition.
“Our outpatient clinics are carried out three times a week. On average about 1,279 patients are treated at the clinics each month.”
The spokesman said more consultancies had to be conducted in order to resolve the issue with overcrowding at the Hospital.
However, the limited number of consulting rooms prevented the administration from mitigating this problem.
“Because of the shortage, the existing rooms have to be shared by MOs and medical specialists so that all our patients can receive treatment.
“A number of procedure rooms at the Hospital have also been co-opted into spaces to treat patients.”
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