Specialist hospital apologises for including Sabah in coronavirus poster

The poster that made the rounds on social media today.

KOTA KINABALU: A specialist hospital has issued an apology for a blunder it made on a poster asking customers to inform the hospital if they had travelled to coronavirus-hit places.

Besides China, Wuhan and Singapore, the poster had also included Sabah for some reason.

A photo of the poster, by KPJ Rawang, with the wordings, “Dear valued customers, please inform us if you have been to China, Wuhan, Singapore or Sabah, or if you have close contact with positive novel coronavirus patients in the past 14 days”, had made its rounds on social media since this morning.

Subsequently, KPJ Rawang issued a statement on its Facebook page, saying they had taken note of the feedback on the poster.

“We deeply regret and apologise for this oversight.

“Please rest assured there was no intention of offending any individual, state or country.

“We have taken corrective action to remove the poster immediately,” the statement said.

Although there have been patients under investigation for the coronavirus in the state, Sabah has not recorded any confirmed case thus far.

SAPP youth chief Jamain Sarudin.

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Youth chief Jamain Sarudin regretted the erroneous lobby notice put up by the hospital, saying this had depicted Sabah as one of the hotspots for the coronavirus.

“This mistake should not have occurred at a well-known and prestigious medical centre such as KPJ. Surely, I think the health ministry did not list Sabah as a high-risk area for coronavirus infection.

“Although the medical centre has eventually removed ‘Sabah’ from the list and has issued an apology, such mistakes should not be repeated as it could have a negative effect on Sabah’s tourism,” he said. -FMT