DG: S’porean not denied treatment before paying
KUALA LUMPUR: There was no delay or demand for payment before treatment by the Sultanah Aminah Hospital Johor Bahru (HSA) in the case of a Singaporean man who succumbed to injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident (MVA), says Health directorgeneral Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In a statement yesterday, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ambulance service records showed the emergency call was made at 2.57am on Aug 25 before the ambulance vehicle left HSA two minutes later.
“It arrived at the scene (of the road crash) at 3.10am and departed from the scene with the patient at 3.15am. Kudos to the ambulance call services for a very timely response, with despatch time of two minutes and response time of 13 minutes,” he explained.
The 25-year-old victim died at the HSA following a hit-and-run accident in Johor Bahru, just after he and five friends finished supper and were heading towards their car about 3am.
In the incident, a Proton Saga ploughed into the six friends and sped away.
Dr Noor Hisham’s statement follows a Singapore-based online news portal which reported that the victim sustained critical injuries following the MVA, and alleged there was slow response time by the ambulance from the HSA, for up to 30 minutes.
Other than the ‘slow response’ allegation, the portal also claimed that preliminary medical scans were withheld until friends and family offered to pay cash upfront, upon the victim’s arrival at the hospital.
Referring to the cash upfront allegation, the director-general said due to the victim’s critical condition, he was admitted to the Red Zone upon arrival at HSA’s Emergency Department, and emergency treatment as per the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) protocol was immediately continued, which was already initiated by the ambulance team earlier.
According to him, the Emergency Department also initiated the necessary imaging (primary survey X-rays, CT-scan of brain, cervical and thorax), treatment (including intubation) and referral to the relevant team in a very timely and professional manner, without asking for any deposit since it was an emergency case.
“In view of the injury to his brain, the patient was referred to a Neurosurgery team, and urgent decompressive craniectomy plus removal of clot and intracranial pressure monitoring was planned without demand for deposit,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said subsequent to this, the victim’s family members arrived and only then they were asked to proceed with payment of the imaging amounting RM2,575.
“However, the family members opted for discharge at on risk (AOR discharge) and arranged for admission to a hospital in Singapore after understanding the risk involved of further delaying the surgery,” he added.
In light of the portal’s report, Dr Noor Hisham urged all relevant parties to be responsible in reporting and further commenting, as releasing inaccurate information and baseless statement could lead to misunderstanding and disrupting the harmony.
“The Ministry of Health has always valued life and does its utmost best to treat any patient, regardless of their background or nationality,” he stressed. - Bernama