Johor health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon speaking to patients and their families at Hospital Sultan Ismail, Johor Baru when conducting a spot check at its emergency and trauma department at midnight Monday (May 22).
JOHOR BARU: The Health Ministry should consider adding more staff on duty at the Hospital Sultan Ismail (HSI) emergency and trauma department to help reduce the patient waiting time, says Ling Tian Soon.
The state health and unity committee chairman said presently, seven to nine doctors are on duty during each shift, where they have to be divided to cover the red, yellow, green and asthma zones.
“When the yellow and red zones have too many patients, the doctors are unable to tend to the green zone, resulting in a longer waiting time for patients there.
“I will also suggest to the Health Ministry about extending the operating hours at the health clinic beside HSI to tend to non-emergency cases to take some pressure off the hospital and its emergency and trauma department,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday (May 22).
Ling said he had earlier conducted a spot-check at HSI at midnight on Monday after receiving complaints from the public who had to wait for a long time to get treated at the department.
Upon arriving, he said he immediately noticed that the hospital’s emergency and trauma department was busy with a steady stream of people coming in to get treated.
“Besides emergency cases that needed immediate attention, minor cases were also being treated at the same time.
“I spoke to some of the patients and their family members waiting there and found that they had been waiting for more than two hours for their turn to receive medical attention.
“After discussing with the doctors on duty about the condition at HSI, there is a need to address the staffing issue,” he said.
The Yong Peng assemblyman added that the emergency and trauma department’s green zone should have more chairs and the damaged ones should be replaced to provide patients and their families more comfort.
