I am a medical student at Universiti Malaya.

Recently, a friend of mine sprained his ankle during a futsal game on campus. Some of us quickly rushed him to the hospital to seek immediate treatment as he was in great pain.

Upon arriving at the front door of the trauma center, we realised that there was no one on duty or standing by.

I asked the security guard, ‘Where's the wheelchair?’ and the answer was ‘Sana lah (there lah)’ and a casual flick of the hand.

When I pointed out to him there were no wheelchairs ‘there’, he replied: ‘Tak ade (don't have)’ followed by ‘Oh, dah habis lah (oh, there are no more)’

I then had to run around looking for a wheelchair to help my friend. Mind you, this was even before triage.

Meanwhile, an old man that had been there vomited and there was a mess on the floor in certain parts.

It was only after about half and hour, and after I informed the guard that there was vomit on the floor did he bother to go and ask someone to clean it up.

Before then, no one made any effort to warn people nor do anything about the mess.

Another car then pulled up and the driver had to come down and ask the staff at the counter angrily before someone came to his aid, casually pushing a bed and helping halfheartedly to carry his injured mother out of the car.

I hope the hospital administration will not take this issue lightly as I faced the same problem during school which was five years ago.

At that time, there was no one to attend to us when we brought in a student suffering from an asthmatic attack. Nothing has changed since then.

Not only is this bad for the hospital's name but it can also make the difference between the life and death of a patient. I hope swift and prompt action will be taken by the authorities to improve the hospital’s services.