Beds outside hospital a temporary solution, says Selangor health chief

 

Patients being forced to lie on stretchers outside the emergency room at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang recently.

PETALING JAYA: The move to place Covid-19 patients outside the emergency department of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) in Klang was a temporary one, the Selangor health department (JKNS) said today.

Responding to viral photos of Covid-19 patients lying on stretchers outside the emergency department due to a lack of beds inside, JKNS director Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman said that a majority of the patients were treated at the emergency department while waiting for beds in the wards.

“Hence, additional beds had to be prepared outside the department temporarily,” he said in a statement.

Earlier today, health minister Dr Adham Baba said an additional 60 beds and more equipment would be sent to HTAR Klang – with the army also ready to set-up a 50-bed field hospital on the hospital’s grounds.

According to Sha’ari, all hospitals in Selangor have seen a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases since the end of June, especially involving Category 3 patients and above.

He said that the increase in admission of patients at Hospital Shah Alam’s emergency department was a result of the hospital being turned into a non-Covid-19 major specialist hospital to treat such patients in the Petaling district.

He added that Hospital Shah Alam is also in the process of increasing its bed capacity.

Yesterday, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah warned that the health system in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Labuan will soon be “paralysed” unless there is a reduction in daily Covid-19 case numbers.

He also expressed concern about the rising trend in Covid-19 cases and the fact that ICU bed capacity nationwide was over 90%, adding that the number of new daily cases being reported showed “no sign of reduction”. - FMT