QEH! What a sham

Kota Kinabalu (Feb 16, 2009): Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) is demanding for an 'urgent-and-comprehensive' solution to the present "chaotic-and-depressing" situation plaguing patients in the state capital.

This comes in the wake of the City's one and only general hospital - the Queen Elizabeth Hospital being officially declared as unsafe last December.

A furious SAPP Information Chief, Chong Pit Fah made a personal inspection at the remaining old block of the QEH that is still functioning yesterday.

He has gone there to verify for himself the numerous complaints which he received over the past two weeks, over the chaotic and overcrowded situation.

He did not come away amused, he saw for himself some of the patients who had to sleep on the floor while some beds were occupying the walkway of the wards, thus posing great danger to the life of the patients should a fire breaks out.

Chong described the depressing scene as grossly irresponsible and uncaring on the part of the Health Ministry and the government.

"How long more the people have to suffer before the government does something about the 'QEH issue' do they want to wait for bodies to pile up before acting?" he queried, adding that this was not the first time that SAPP had highlighted the plight of the patients.

He noted that ever since the desertion of QEH, the medical and healthcare service in the city was literally in a mess and , there was no solution in place despite numerous public complaints.

He reiterated the Federal government should not drag its feet on the QEH issue, as it is seriously affecting the wellbeing of the Sabah folks and threatening their lives.

"As the state capital and having been elevated into a city for the past nine years now, by right Kota Kinabalu should have had additional two to three new government hospitals including specialist hospitals. Unfortunately, we have none at the moment.

"Our government can afford to spend billions on so called mega projects and send someone to space, but they can't give us a general hospital.

"How does the Federal government explain this? And not forgetting the fact that they are also taking our oil and gas, oil palm tax, personal taxes etc," he lamented.

No proper ICU in KK to deal
With emergencies: SAPP

KOTA KINABALU: There is no proper Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the state capital to deal with emergencies, charged the Sabah Progressive Party.

It claims that the QEH had converted some of its ordinary wards into the ICU, in the meantime occupying a small section of the Sabah Medical Centre (SMC) for its intensive care.

He thus questioned whether there had been any casualties due to the lack of such crucial facility.

Chong Pit Fah who is also SAPP Kepayan CLC Chairman also claimed to have reliably learnt from those in the insurance industry that of late many of the government doctors and specialists had purchased medical insurance for themselves, so that they could get admitted to the private hospitals should they fall sick.

He was also against the relocation of some of the QEH patients to the Likas Hospital and the Bukit Padang Hospital. Citing the fact that the Likas Hospital is a designated women and children hospital while the Bukit Padang Hospital is mainly for those suffering from mental illness.

He further argued that the relocation of QEH patients to Likas Hospital was especially unfair to the expecting mothers and the newborn babies.

He went on to claim to have learnt that ever since QEH’s desertion, the hospital’s backlog cases for operation have now exceeded 1,000 cases.

“How does the government plan to solve such a serious problem?” He asked.

The patients were being sent to the various district hospitals and the situation was rather chaotic and confusing to the public as, they no longer know where they are supposed to go for their treatment nowadays.

“I was told that some of these patients were sent all over the place to Kuala Penyu, Keningau, Sipitang, Sandakan and even Tawau for their treatment. This has created a lot of stress and confusion not only to the patients and their families but the doctors as well,” said Chong.

He also questioned whether there is any contingency plan in the event of a natural disaster.-Michael Teh (NST)