Saturday October 25, 2008
Outpatients get treated within 30 minutes
By AUDREY EDWARDS
PUTRAJAYA: Some 70% of outpatient departments have been able to keep the waiting time for patients below 30 minutes.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the average time at such departments in government hospitals and health clinics had reached 70.4% since improvements were made in the past four months.
The waiting time of 30 minutes starts from the time a patient takes a number until he or she is seen by a doctor.
Previously, the success rate for the 30-minute goal was only between 30% and 40%, said Liow.
Among steps taken to shorten the time were adding more staff members and extending service hours, with some establishments operating until 9.30pm.
“They also start early at 7.30am instead of the 8am previously. Patients coming early can avoid the peak hours,” he said in an interview.
However, Liow said there was still room for improvement. This included having an SMS service where patients could check how long the waiting list was.
However, Liow said certain establishments, including Kuala Lumpur Hospital and the Puchong health clinic, were still unable to cut down on the waiting time.
Such departments in high density areas were 50% successful in reducing the waiting time to 30 minutes compared with medical facilities with fewer patients achieving a success rate of about 80%.
Liow said that among the steps being considered to solve the congestion in Puchong was to improve the shuttle service to Serdang Hospital for patients from Kajang, Serdang and Puchong.
“I am really thankful my staff have been working so hard,” he said.
He added that the Cabinet was briefed at its weekly meeting on the progress and the ministers discussed how to further improve the situation.
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