The Malaysian Insight

PUTRAJAYA should spend more money to resolve the dire situation at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang, where patients have been lying on stretchers outside the emergency department for days, said MP Charles Santiago.

Santiago told The Malaysian Insight patients have been lying there for three to four days now waiting for empty slots in the hospital to be admitted.

“They have already been tested positive for (Covid-19) and they are showing symptoms of the virus and they are waiting to be admitted,” he said.

The Malaysian Insight visited the hospital today and found patients waiting for their turn, lying on the camp beds and sitting at the bench outside the emergency department.

The hospital was also a hive of activity with ambulances pulling in at the emergency department every 15 to 20 minutes.

The place was, however, shielded with a black cloth away from public view.

Santiago claimed that food supply was also not sufficient.

He said the hospital that serves some one million residents in Klang, Kapar and Kuala Langat is facing a shortage of manpower, ventilators and beds.

“Given that the numbers are increasing in Klang, the place is being filled up,” he said.

“An old woman has been sitting on the chair (outside the emergency department) for the last two days without a bed for admission.

“Doctors know she is there. She has difficulty breathing, is coughing but she has been sitting on the chair for the past two days just like many others and only when there is a space in the emergency department will they go inside,” he said.

He said the hospital needs more ventilators to accommodate more severely ill Covid-19 patients.

“I have asked for RM20 million to be given immediately in the next one week and a support system from the army hospital and mobilise contract medical officers,” he said.

“Doctors at the emergency department and elsewhere are working anywhere between 14 and 15 hours a day. It is mentally very demanding,” he added.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said yesterday that 60 more beds will be added and RM1.1 million will be allocated for the purchase of equipment.

An army field hospital with 50 beds will also be set up in the vicinity of the hospital.

Santiago said the RM1.1 million allocation is insufficient as ventilators alone could cost up to RM200,000. – July 9, 2021.