Patient not attended to at HSI yellow zone due to communication breakdown - Exco

JOHOR BAHRU - Claims of doctors not being available and patients not being attended to at the yellow zone of Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI), here, which went viral on social media today, were due to a communication breakdown between the hospital and the patient's family.

Commenting on the matter, State Health and Unity Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said he visited HSI's Emergency and Trauma Department this afternoon where he was made to understand that the claims on social media did not paint the whole picture.

"The patient who was transferred from the Health Clinic to the Emergency Department by ambulance was transferred to the Yellow Zone and given appropriate treatment, while his family members were at the Green Zone waiting area.

"After stabilising the patient, his blood sample was also taken and sent to the laboratory. While waiting for the report, a CT Scan was also performed on the patient to check his health condition and the patient was allowed to go home after a thorough treatment and examination process," he said in a statement today.

Ling said his office always takes into account the views of the public on medical services in Johor hospitals and is confident that frontline medical staff have carried out their duties professionally with the available resources.

"I would like to emphasise that all red zone (critical) and yellow zone (semi-critical) emergency cases sent to the Hospital Emergency Department will be treated immediately according to the patient's condition," he said.

He also said that together with Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, he had visited HSI many times and understood the public's view of HSI and its workload, adding that its Emergency Department handles 300 to 400 cases a day.

In this regard, the statre government has discussed with the Health Ministry of Johor’s dire need for additional staff to ease the workload and to ensure all treatment processes are carried out efficiently.

Earlier, a Facebook account holder claimed that her mother had to wait a long time at the yellow zone of the HSI Emergency Department to get treatment. - BERNAMA