Are government hospitals a fire hazard?

Non-existent fire and smoke alarms, fire alarms which do not go off, lack of fire extinguishers and staff who are clueless about operating these fire-fighting aids, is this the reality of our government hospitals?

How safe would you feel if you had to be admitted to any public hospital?

Perhaps, you are visiting a patient, or you are possibly an employee of the healthcare facility.

How confident are you about your own safety and the safety of your loved ones, should a fire break out?

Perhaps, as a hospital employee, do you know about the significant safety issues of your hospital but are afraid to voice your concerns?

Last week, the G25 member and former Court of Appeal judge, Mohd Hishamudin Yunus, who is also the chairperson of the Independent Committee on the 2016 Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) Johor Bahru Fire urged the government to release the findings of the HSA fire.

Former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Hishamudin Yunus

This tragedy is believed to be Malaysia's deadliest hospital fire.

The G25 group said that in the HSA fire which caused the deaths of six patients, almost five years have passed since the report was submitted to the government and subsequently declassified.

However, seven years after the HSA fire, the public has yet to read a full copy of the report.

When delays like this happen, the ordinary rakyat will naturally suspect that the government is trying to hide something, or cover up the many failures in the system.

Are funds lacking? Is the management of the hospital at fault? Is someone being protected?

The facts, according to the chair of the committee, are these. On the morning of Oct 25, 2016, a fire broke out at the “south” intensive care unit (ICU) at HSA Hospital.

Six of the seven patients in the ICU died. Three hospital staff were injured.

An independent committee comprising seven members was established by the government to investigate the cause of the fire outbreak and to present its recommendations to the government to improve fire safety in government hospitals.

Hishamudin was appointed to chair the committee and Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman (former director-general of Health) was appointed as his deputy.

Doctors, nurses, hospital staff and ministry officials were called as witnesses and the hearing took several months.

Later, a 240-page report was submitted to the Health Ministry in June 2018, by which time Pakatan Harapan had come to power. In the report, the committee gave 26 recommendations to improve fire safety.

The cabinet agreed to make the report public but then the infamous Sheraton Move happned.

Then, in October 2021, Health Ministry was again urged to make the report public but was unable to do so, with court claims filed by the next of kin of the deceased.

With mounting pressure for the report to be made public, Khairy Jamaluddin, the then-health minister, promised in June 2022 that the report would be made public.

The proviso was that the legal adviser to the ministry had to ascertain that there were no more court claims to be filed by the next of kin of those who perished in the fire.

Having established that there were no further outstanding court claims does not, however, explain the current delay in releasing the committee's findings.

Few people will be aware that in the same Sultanah Aminah Hospital, in JB, another big fire had also been reported on June 28, 2020.

Although there was no loss of life, 24 patients had to be evacuated.

More fire incidents reported

Whilst the rakyat awaits the publication of the said report, several such fires at other government hospitals and clinics have been reported.

According to the health news portal Codeblue, a fire broke out on March 23 at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban (HTJS).

A doctor at HTJS who will not be named to protect his identity, alleged that the fire alarms did not emit a warning, whilst staff were unaware of the fire and thought the smoke was due to the haze.

He said the fire had started in a known high-risk area close to oxygen pipelines, the operation theatre, ICU, and is near to the emergency department.

He further alleged that there were no fire alarms and no smoke detectors, staff were untrained to handle fires, and people were smoking on the hospital grounds including close to the source of the fire, which was a known hotspot.

He added that the staff were not even sure if there were fire extinguishers nearby.

Does the HSA now have a fire certificate? It did not in 2016.

Do private hospitals treat fire safety with more seriousness than government hospitals?

Since the deadly 2016 HSA fire, public health clinics have reported fire outbreaks, and fires in two public health clinics caused massive destruction to their buildings.

How robust are government hospitals' fire safety protection and evacuation protocols?

Are staff trained in fire safety and do they know the risks? What are the emergency evacuation plans? How often are fire drills conducted? How often are fire protection inspections and service schedules carried out?

Did fires break out only in healthcare facilities without fire certification? How much is negligence a contributory factor?

So, how safe is our public health facilities? More importantly, when will this government release the committee's findings and recommendations? - Mkini

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.