Rep recounts desperate bid to help Covid-19 patient as hospitals turn them away
Subang Jaya assemblyperson Michelle Ng Mei Sze recounted her team's desperate attempt to seek medical help for a Covid-19 patient as multiple hospitals turned them down.
Ng, who spent a sleepless night trying to find help, said she received a call at 10.30pm on Sunday from a low-cost flat resident asking for help on behalf of a neighbour.
She was informed that the resident had breathing difficulty, was vomiting and felt like "dying" but could not get an ambulance after more than four hours.
The resident told Ng that the 999 emergency line said they couldn't help as there were seven others already on the waiting list.
"She went on about... how she (the sick neighbour) is illiterate and does not know how to type, let alone use MySejahtera to update her Covid-19 status or Selangkah to register herself to be admitted to the Covid-19 Assessment Centre in Stadium Melawati," Ng shared on Twitter.
Subang Jaya's emergency ambulance service was then contacted, but Ng was told they were not operational.
"With a lump in my throat, I said 'Well if the patient is still alive and you are operational tomorrow, could you consider sending her to the hospital?'" she said.
However, the ambulance service told her that even if they could, hospitals were likely to send them on a merry-go-round as there were not enough beds.
The DAP lawmaker said she then reached out to St John Ambulance, which could only offer her an apology as all six of their ambulances were also on the road, with each having a waiting list of three patients.
"I was angry. I was angry that they had to say sorry, that men and women who gave their lives to do no harm had to choose who should live and die," she added.
Ng related how she and her aide, who goes by the name Henry, had sought various options for an ambulance, including some that were charging up to RM1,209.
They finally settled on an ambulance that was going to charge a base rate of RM700 and another RM200 for every hospital that they would have to go to if they could not get the patient admitted.
Turned away by hospitals
Ng shared that her aide conveyed to her the information that one ambulance service said their earlier case racked up a bill of RM1,700 as they went from one hospital to another.
"There were just no beds," she said.
Her aide had even suggested following the ambulance so that they could decide when the bill was "too much" to continue searching for a hospital.
Trying to mitigate the cost, Ng said they began calling hospitals to check which had beds.
"He (my aide) called Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang – no answer.
"I called Shah Alam – they said they could no longer take Covid-19 cases and that the Ampang, Selayang and Serdang hospitals might have beds. I called Serdang – they said that they were full but that Putrajaya might have a bed.
"When I rang Putrajaya – the operator said that they would only take cases from 999. I begged her – we have waited four hours, and 999 asked us to look for our own hospital," she said.
They finally settled on Kuala Lumpur Hospital and when the ambulance arrived to pick up the resident, her blood pressure was soaring, Ng recounted.
"They had to give her oxygen as she had difficulty breathing after walking down the stairs."
Ng said the resident arrived at Kuala Lumpur Hospital at around 2.50am but had to wait under a tent outside the door.
She was finally placed in a decompression room at around 7.40am where there were seven other people waiting for a bed.
Ng urged other residents in Subang Jaya to take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously.
"We are far from the clear. Our system has collapsed. This virus is ravaging families.
"Just this week alone community leaders have informed me of four Covid-19 related deaths. I am pleading with you – please take this seriously," she said.
The Subang Jaya representative also called for everyone to ensure they get vaccinated against Covid-19.
- Mkini
✍ Credit given to the original owner of this post : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH
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