KUALA LUMPUR JULY 3: The Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) would like to clarify about the facebook posts that went viral on a patient that was treated on the floor in the Emergency and Trauma Department.
Director of KLH, Datuk Dr. Heric Corray said, when the patient was brought to the Department, he became unconscious all of a sudden, had no pulse and stop breathing.
He said, at that time all the beds have been taken up and that person was placed on the floor that was good for immediate Cardio-Respiratory Resuscitation. However, the patient was unable to be saved.
“Due to the cause of death was not known, the body was taken to the Forensic Medical Department, KLH for post-mortem and now waiting for the result,” Dr. Heric said in a statement here today.
Referring to the picture of a patient lying down and was given medical treatment on the floor, Dr. Heric said it was an emergency case as that person was suffering from epilepsy and might fall from the canvas bed.
“Based on safety and immediate treatment, the patient was placed down on the right side to avoid his saliva from entering the lungs that would be risky for him,” he said.
Referring to the shortage of patients’ beds in KLH, Dr. Heric said, the usage of beds have increased now following more COVID-19 cases in the fourth stage have been received.
However he said, KLH has plans and beds are only used following the current needs and KLH has postponed elective surgery cases since December 2020 to give priority to emergency cases that need the beds more than other cases.
Regarding the supply of oxygen in the wards, Dr. Heric explained, currently the supply of oxygen in the form of piping or cylinder is still sufficient. KLH is consistently in contact with the supplier to ensure the supply process is always at the optimum level for the use of oxygen in KLH wards.
“If there is a need for more supply of oxygen at any one time, the supply will be taken from the wards that use lesser oxygen,” he added.
On the question of COVID-19 patients in KLH, Dr. Heric highlighted that the cases were managed by the Central Region COVID-19 Unified Command Centre (UCC) that monitors the whole COVID-19 cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
Dr. Heric added, through UCC, KLH will receive the critical and emergency cases from the COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) in MAEPS, Selangor that is currently receiving stage 3 and 4.
According to Dr. Heric, there is a shortage of bed capacity and staffs in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) and currently the usage of beds is very high. The medical equipments such as oxygen, beds and others are always in the plan and request to the supplier will be made according to the current needs.
Dr. Heric added, the ICU staffs have been assisted by staffs from other wards such as KLH clinic. KLH also cooperates with the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital and the Medical Respiratory Institute. KLH treats critical patients until they are not in the critical stage and then they return to these hospitals for treatment. –Malaysia World News
