Klang hospital emergency dept closed to non-critical patients

Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) in Klang has closed its emergency department to non-critical cases due to patient congestion.

In a notice put up at the entrance to the department this morning, patients were told to seek treatment elsewhere if they are not in "critical and severe" condition.

"For the time being, we need to prioritise critical and severe cases at this department," the notice reads.

The HTAR department head put up the notice after healthcare workers there were reviewing patients until 1.30am, hospital sources told The Star.

After the review, many of the cases were found to be non-critical, a source said.

This comes after Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa announced public hospitals will set up temporary wards to ease congestion at emergency departments.

Last month, a 16-year-old boy, who was involved in a motorcycle crash, was sent home after receiving treatment at the Pasir Mas Hospital emergency department, despite vomiting and being listless and unsteady on his feet, because there were no beds available in the ward.

Kelantan Health Department director Dr Zaini Hussin said initial investigations found several issues including a communication breakdown between the healthcare worker and the patient's guardian.

In December, health news website CodeBlue reported that critically ill patients were stranded for six days in Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh's emergency department, because there were no empty beds in the ward.

In response, hospital director Dr Megat Iskandar Megat Abdul Hamid said the hospital has created a 24-hour bed management unit to smoothen the process of patient discharges from all wards and admission of patients from the emergency department to the wards.

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