Some Covid-19 patients have to wait their turn for ICU treatment in KK - report

 

Some critical Covid-19 patients have to wait up to two days before being admitted into the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

According to Code Blue, a health-centric news outlet, those on the waiting list are first stabilised and placed in the emergency department.

The ICU has ventilators, feeding tubes, and monitoring equipment to observe if a patient's condition deteriorates rapidly.

An anonymous doctor at the hospital told the news outlet that the hospital has not needed to reject patients so far.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital was one of several hospitals in Sabah surveyed by Code Blue through unofficial sources, and other hospitals do not appear to have reached saturation point in terms of ICU usage.

Sabah has had one of the highest death tolls of all Malaysian states and territories.

As of noon yesterday, Sabah's Covid-19 death toll was 76, of which 63 were reported this month alone.

That meant Sabah accounts for 37.25 percent of all deaths (204) attributed to Covid-19 in the country so far.

Shortage of nurses

According to the Code Blue report, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital now had 15 Covid-19 wards and enough doctors.

However, there is a shortage of nurses needed to treat critically ill patients, who require constant monitoring.

Critically ill Covid-19 patients suffer from pneumonia and have trouble breathing, hence requiring oxygen.

On Oct 18, Malaysiakini reported that some Covid-19 victims in Sabah had to wait several days after testing positive before they were able to be brought to the hospital for treatment.

Yesterday, Sabah minister Masidi Manjun revealed that some Covid-19 patients who were experiencing "early stages" of symptoms were asked to receive treatment at home.

Others would be transferred to the Quarantine and Low-risk Treatment Centres (PKRC) to make room for patients with more serious conditions at the hospitals.

Health Ministry rules mandate that patients with no or mild symptoms be categorised as Stage One or Two and are admitted to the PKRC.

Patients who have developed pneumonia are categorised as Stage Three or above. - Mkini