Bitara Madani: Patient congestion at HTAR green zone, emergency dept reduced by 70 per cent

KUALA LUMPUR - The Bitara Madani initiative, aimed at reducing congestion at emergency departments of government hospitals, has been implemented at the Emergency and Trauma Department of Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) Klang, Selangor, and proved successful in reducing the number of patients at the Green Zone to 70 per cent.

The department head, Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Mohamad Nor said the initiative, carried out as a pilot project at the department since last March, saw the dispersal of patients requiring non-secondary treatment sent to health clinics (KK).

Prior to the implementation of the Bitara Madani initiative, he said, the department handled up to 350 patients daily, which could reach up to 400 when there is no intervention with an average of 10 percent of them Red Zone patients, Yellow Zone (30 percent) and Green Zone (60 percent).

"Health services offered at clinics in the Klang district include for non-emergency cases, treatment for various ages pregnant women and babies like screening, detection, diagnosis, control, and prevention.

"The Emergency and Trauma Department (JKT) also plays the role of providig secondary treatment, which is for emergency situations that endanger life, limbs or organs, acute illnesses that are complicated or prolonged," he told Bernama.

Apart from that. through the initiative, the community is also assisted to make decisions and choices that are suitable for their health problems.

The move, he said, can increase the community’s access to primary health in health clinics and at the same time increase access to emergency services in the emergency department, especially for semi-critical or Yellow Zone cases.

"The JKT's focus is also clearer where the real role of HTAR emergency services can be implemented and given to individuals with acute illnesses or more serious and severe injuries including time-sensitive situations such as heart attack, stroke and polytrauma," he said.

The Emergency Consultant said the waiting time or queue for outpatient treatment is still under control, like for the emergency doctor's first assessment, waiting to run diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests.

He said efficient work processes and good teamwork among front-line staff from various units are also among the drivers of successful quality service to patients in the emergency department.

Dr Tajuddin said several indicators or performance indicators to measure the success of the initiative were also outlined, including the waiting time for Green Zone patients of less than one hour.

"Our target is towards more than 50 percent (the number of patients waiting for less than one hour) within the first six months and the current achievement is around 40 percent.

"The accuracy target for the distribution of Green Zone patients through the monitoring of cases that need to come back to JKT after going to KK is below five percent and the current achievement is 0.7 to 0.8 percent, which is smaller or zero is better," he said.

Previously, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said that through the pilot project, an intervention by moving the operation of the Green Zone (non-emergency) of the JKT HTAR to the Bandar Botanic Health Clinic (KKBB) outside the operating hours starting last March 25 with the KKBB extending the hours operation until 9.30 pm every day.

The Bitara Madani initiative focuses on solving the difficulties and problems faced by the people, in improving the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery in ensuring the well-being of the people. - BERNAMA