Critically ill patients at public hospitals treated immediately, says Health Ministry
KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — Critically ill patients admitted to the emergency and trauma department at government hospitals are treated immediately, the Health Ministry said.
In a parliamentary written reply, the ministry said semi-critical patients are treated in less than 30 minutes.
“As for non-critical patients, they are treated within two hours,” the Health Ministry said.
The Health Ministry was responding to DAP’s Ipoh Timur MP Howard Lee who asked the ministry to state how many patients in a month had to wait 48 hours or more before they were admitted to wards in government hospitals from January 2013 to December 2022.
At present, the ministry added that it does not have data which specifically monitors patient hospital admittance from the emergency department.
On February 23, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa, during her winding-up speech on the Royal address in Parliament, said the average waiting time is determined by an internal audit and varies from hospital to hospital.
During her speech, she had spoken about the seven measures that the ministry will be implementing to alleviate overcrowding at the emergency departments of public hospitals.
She said the ministry is also considering hospital clusters with private specialist clinics and private hospitals to improve waiting times.
Lee had then suggested an outright acquisition of nearby hospitals to ease congestion at existing hospitals.
The matter was highlighted by CodeBlue last December where critically ill patients including ventilated cases were stranded for up to six days in the Red Zone of Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital’s (HRPB) emergency room due to the lack of critical care beds and staff.
