BINTULU: The management of Bintulu Hospital has issued an apology to the family of a kidney patient who fell at the Haemodialysis Unit (HDU) building on Sept 30.
Hospital director Dr Suzalinna Sulaiman, in a statement, said the incident happened because the patient was dropped off next to the HDU building and not the hospital’s main entrance.
According to her, initial investigation found that the security guard on duty had instructed the ambulance driver not to drop off the patient at the main entrance because they thought the patient was positive for Covid-19 as the ambulance driver was in full personal protective equipment (PPE) gear – standard practice of staff handling Covid-19 cases.
At Bintulu Hospital, kidney patients who are Covid-19 positive will undergo dialysis at the isolation ward instead of the HDU.
“As an improvement measure, a fast lane route will be created specially for ambulance to send patients undergoing dialysis to HDU,” she said, adding that the hospital would still maintain the existing policy – kidney patients who are Covid-19 positive will be treated at the isolation ward.
Dr Suzalinna advised staff involved in the incident to always communicate with each other as well as adopt the existing policy to facilitate the delivery of patients.
