Irene Chang
SIBU (Oct 3): The Sarawak Health Department should find permanently address the problems raised by an anonymous doctor about issues at Sibu Hospital in a letter to CodeBlue instead of arbitrarily dismissing the allegations.
This is according to Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang who said the usual response of sending temporary health workers to the hospital after an outcry is emotionally and physically exhausting while depleting the morale of healthcare workers in Sibu Hospital.
“Let not the persistent cries for help fall yet on more deaf ears of those sitting high up in the corridors of power,” she added in a media statement.
She revealed that the lengthy letter by the doctor which made several allegations including the manipulation of data on hospital bed use in the Covid-19 wards and Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the shortage of manpower and resources such as oxygen ports for Covid-19 patients, and the weariness and exhaustion of most medical personnel should deserve a better response than just saying “the number of available beds is dynamic and will change according to circumstances.”
Allegations especially on data manipulation, she added, are serious and a more specific and detailed explanation should be given to allay the concern on the true picture in the battle against Covid-19.
“The failure of such explanation might give an impression that the data have indeed been manipulated and was not in fact an erroneous perception by the doctor concerned.”
“Indeed, Sibu Hospital has widely been seen to be much neglected, fit only to receive second hand and broken-down ventilators in the height of their battle against Covid-19,” Chang added and noted that the concerns over manpower and resources are also not new.
The hospital has been under-equipped and it has depended very much on community and corporate help for timely supplies of consumables and equipment, she said.
Chang recalled that the shortage of healthcare workers was already existed during pre-Covid days.
“However, the manpower need intensified in the last two years due to rising Covid-19 cases. The hospital is lacking not only in specialists, doctors and medical officers but also contract staff nurses who, once they have completed their training in the nursing colleges in Kuching and Sibu, are usually posted out of Sarawak to Semananjung and Sabah for permanent postings.
“This is inspite of the need by Sarawak herself for the services of these staff nurses in hospitals such as Sibu Hospital. And yet, many of these nurses have expressed their desire to stay back in their hometown in Sarawak but they were never given a choice,” the assemblywoman added.