Cancer patient turned away by 4 hospitals
Lau King Ngiuk, 71, and members of the family were informed by QEH doctors on Dec. 19 that she could not be treated with radiotherapy because the computer facility for radiotherapy planning was out of order.
However, QEH referred the patient to Hospital Kuala Lumpur for treatment with the reason that the hospital's one and only treatment planning system had broken down. She was recommended to undergo concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
HILUX.......Pesakit (adik saya-bertudung merah) terpaksa menaiki Hilux kerana ketiadaan Ambulan.
SETELAH beroperasi selama 10 tahun, Hospital Lahad Datu yang diberi status Hospital Pakar setelah layak memiliki MS ISO 9001:2000; hanya gah pada nama tetapi sinonim dengan 'Hospital Pakar Menipu' setelah membazirkan wang pembayar cukai sejumlah lebih RM200 juta.
Bangunan yang dibina pada 1999 dan mula beroperasi pada April 2002, masih ketiadaan pelbagai pakar seperti Pakar Orhtopedik, Pakar Mata, Pakar X-Ray, Pakar Penyakit Kanser, Pakar ENT dan sebagainya menyebabkan Hospital Lahad Datu hanya setaraf dengan Klinik Desa Ulu Tomani, Tenom.
Hospital giving poor treatment, care for elderly woman
KOTA KINABALU 9/10/2012: The family of an elderly woman admitted to the Lotong Hospital in Kota Marudu last month, have lodged a police report against the hospital for alleged inferior treatment and care.
Her nephew, John Voo, claimed that his aunt, whom he did not wish to identify, received poor treatment and care which resulted in her state of coma due to water retention in the brain.
“I do not want to make wild accusations but the poor service my aunt received at Lotong Hospital is a fact that was confirmed by doctors in Queen Elizabeth Hospital after she was transferred there,”
Delay in completion of healthcare centre not acceptable by the people — MP
KOTA KINABALU June 11, 2012: The nuclear and radiotherapy medical centre at Likas Hospital is long overdue from its scheduled completion and is not acceptable to the people, said Kota Kinabalu member of parliament Hiew King Cheu.
He said Sabah DAP had been receiving many complaints on the late completion of the centre for use by patients.
“The complainants are asking as to why the project takes so long to finish by the appointed contractor who is not capable and qualified to carry out the task,” said Hiew yesterday.
Liow Beri Amaran Kepada Kontraktor Untuk Siapkan Hospital Kanser Sabah Jun Ini
KOTA KINABALU, 30 April (Bernama) -- Menteri kesihatan Datuk Liow Tiong Lai memberi amaran sehingga Jun ini untuk kontraktor menyiapkan projek pembinaan Pusat Perubatan Nuklear dan Radioterapi Hospital Wanita dan Kanak-kanak Sabah di Likas, dekat sini.
Beliau berkata projek pembinaan bangunan pusat yang berharga lebih RM264 juta itu sepatutnya siap awal tahun ini namun kontraktor berkenaan tidak dapat menyiapkannya dalam tempoh yang ditetapkan, sebaliknya memohon beberapa perlanjutan masa.
PKR: Scattered KK hospitals cause hardship
Kota Kinabalu April 30, 2012: Poor planning and lack of foresight on the part of the Health Ministry has inevitably caused great inconvenience, confusion and hardship to the masses in terms of providing services.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) KK Division Chief, Christina Liew, said this is an undesirable outcome of having three hospitals scattered within the State Capital without taking the people's interests into consideration in the first place. These are Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) 1, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) 2 and Sabah Women & Children's Hospital, Likas.
Warga Asing Hutang Hospital Sabah RM21.54 Juta - Rosnah
Katanya daripada kira-kira RM25 juta bil yang tertunggak setakat ini, RM21.54 juta adalah hutang pesakit warga asing.
Hospital Likas mencatatkan jumlah tungakan tertinggi dengan RM8.171 juta, diikuti Hospital Tawau RM6.10 juta, Lahad Datu (RM3.307 juta), Hospital Dutchess of Kent Sandakan (RM2.4 juta) dan Hospital Queen Elizebeth Kota Kinabalu sebanyak RM2.162 juta, katanya, di sini Jumaat.
Hospital parking fee plan receive mixed reaction
KOTA KINABALU March 4, 2012: The statement made by Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Edward Khoo that the Health Department would review its policy of not charging parking fees at public hospitals in Sabah, has received mixed reaction from members of the public.
Although some have expressed unhappiness, most have responded positively to the announcement with the proviso that a reasonable fee would be charged by the government.
Pusat Nuklear Dan Radioterapi Sabah Dijangka Beroperasi Hujung Tahun Ini
Timbalan Menteri Kesihatan Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin berkata pembinaan bangunan pusat yang berharga sekitar RM264 juta kini berjalan lancar dan setakat 31 Dis lepas, projek itu hampir siap 87 peratus.
Dengan siapnya pusat yang dibangunkan bersebelahan Hospital Wanita Dan Kanak-Kanak Sabah (Hospital Likas) itu, pesakit barah di negeri ini tidak perlu ke Kuala Lumpur atau Kuching untuk mendapatkan rawatan, katanya.
Health officials to probe sleepy surgeons
Hasan Abdul Rahman (pic right), director general of health, said such doctors were liable to have their licenses suspended or removed from office by their hospitals.
“Such things will affect our image as we need competent doctors,” Hasan told the New Sunday Times newspaper. “The patients’ safety is our main concern.”
Parliament: More Pharmacists Choose Government Sector
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- As much as 60 percent of the country's pharmacists choose to work in the government sector, citing attractive benefits as their reason to do so, the Dewan Rakyat was informed Wednesday.
Answering a supplementary question from Dr Hiew King Chiew (DAP-Kota Kinabalu) who queried on the shortage of pharmacists in Sabah, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin explained that factors such as better career path, critical allowances and chances for promotion had a big impact for this group.
Hidup semula selepas dimasukkan dalam beg mayat
RIO DE JANEIRO 27 September 2011 - Seorang wanita yang berusia 60-an yang dirawat kerana sakit pneumonia dihantar terlalu cepat ke rumah mayat selepas diisytiharkan mati oleh seorang doktor, lapor akhbar Globo kelmarin.
Doktor tidak dapat mengesan sebarang tanda-tanda penting, melakukan ujian dan mengesahkan dia mati.
Dia kemudian dihantar ke bilik mayat dan berada selama dua jam di dalam beg plastik.
QEH1 TWIN TOWERS READY BY DEC 2012
Rosnah (4th right) visiting a patient at the hospital yesterday
KOTA KINABALU 26th August, 2011: Construction of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 (QEH1) twin towers costing RM365 million will be fully completed in December next year.
And, it will provide an extra 661 beds to cater for patients seeking treatment at the hospital.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said this at a press conference after visiting the hospital here yesterday.
She explained that the delay in completing the project was due to shortage of cement and other factors.
“However the contractor undertaking the project has given an assurance work is progressing smoothly. We hope it will be completed as scheduled,” Rosnah added.
Hospital gempar lelaki mati ‘hidup’ semula
SIBU August 10, 2011: Seorang pesakit lelaki dalam lingkungan umur 50-an yang dikatakan meninggal dunia terpaksa diusung keluar dari bilik mayat selepas nadinya didapati masih berdenyut.
Insiden menggemparkan itu berlaku sekitar jam 4 petang kelmarin di Hospital Sibu apabila pesakit yang berasal dari sebuah rumah panjang di Kanowit, 60 kilometer dari sini, dikatakan telah menghembuskan nafas terakhirnya semasa berada di wad Unit Rawatan Rapi (ICU).
Unit rawatan dan pembedahan jantung HQE II beroperasi akhir bulan ini
LAWAT … Liow ketika melawat bilik operasi pembedahan jantung di HQE II.
KOTA KINABALU 8th August, 2011: Unit rawatan dan pembedahan jantung Hospital Queen Elizabeth II (HQE II) akan mula beroperasi sepenuhnya pada akhir bulan ini, kata Menteri Kesihatan Malaysia Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Beliau berkata, apabila siap kelak, unit jantung itu akan dilengkapi pelbagai peralatan canggih setaraf dengan Institut Jantung Negara (IJN).
QE Hospital to open next month after refurbishment
Renovations to the hospital took less than eight months and were completed on July 27.
Sabah Health Department director Dr Mohd Yusof Ismail said the state Health Department should be able to provide better services to the public once the hospital re-opens.
He said the renovations to 12 operation theatres have been completed.
Among the work carried out were the construction of a five-storey car park, elevators, refurbishment of the Accident and Emergency Department, and deve-lopment of the Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Centre.
Dr Yusof said work to replace the tower block was progressing as scheduled and is expected to be ready next year.
‘Let Sabah manage own health services’
TAWAU July 29, 2011: The federal government must decentralise healthcare and allow the Sabah government to take care of its own health services.
In making this call, a Sabah based NGO, Society of Hope, said it was the only way that Sabah’s health services would improve and the people of Sabah looked after.
Said its president Christina Liew: “In Sabah we have hospitals without enough beds or qualified medical personnel to serve the patients.
“We have the hardware, a mega-sized hospital out of nowhere in a remote village but with not enough beds, doctors and nurses,” she said.
But the authorities, she opined, were in denial.
“Then they will understand what it means by shortage of qualified medical personnel and why we should let the Sabah government take care of our own medical needs and requirement.
“It is time, the Sabah government did something for its own people. Sabah’s health services should be left to Sabahans,” Liew said.
With some 22 government-run hospitals in Sabah, complaints of inadequate healthcare services is perennial.
For years, locals have pleaded for better facilities, more doctors, nurses and medical personnel in government hospitals and clinics in the state.
And for just as long the Health Ministry has promised improvements and changes.
Hospital in debt
In May this year FMT reported that both the patients and doctors in Sabah were unhappy and frustrated with the state of affairs in the state medical and health services.
The report quoted state DAP official Junz Wong as saying that Sabahans were among the most ill-cared for citizens in Malaysia due to lack of medicines and healthcare equipment.
Wong believed that Sabah was being short-changed by the federal government as far as the health services were concerned.
He accused the Health Ministry of not allocating funds to buy new and up-to-date equipment.
His views were recently confirmed by source at the Tawau Hospital who said the hospital was in dire straits and could not afford to buy medical supplies.
“It (Tawau Hospital) is one of three hospitals in deep debt. There’s no money to even buy medicines.
“We owe the suppliers and no money is coming in from Kuala Lumpur,” said the source.
Locals losing out
According to the source the rising debt is due to non-paying patients.
“Most patients who come here are foreigners and they claim not to have money. Before we use to treat them now we are firm..show us the money or no treatment.
“We cannot afford to treat them anymore,” said the source.
The source further added that the medical facilities in the hospital too were being heavily compromised treating these foreigners.
“Imagine if we have two ventilators and both are in use treating a foreign national.
“What happens if a real Sabahan comes in for treatment? Then we are stuck. It has happened to us many times before,” the source added.
Woman forced to seek radiotherapy in KL
KOTA KINABALU July 13, 2011: Traveling is a good way to spend your retirement, that is if you are on a holiday-making trip and not desperately seeking treatment for your terminal illness.
Already weakened by multiple surgery and chemotherapy, the long flight on economy class is not exactly what a middle-aged would be looking forward to.
But this is what a cancer patient, Loh Foh Chin has to endure at the age of 53.
She was diagnosed with uterus cancer and has gone through two operations and countless chemotherapy sessions.
The doctor said her cancer has spread and she needed a radiotherapy. So, she was brought by her family to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Two (formerly known as Sabah Medical Centre) where the only radiotherapy facility in the State is available.
But Loh has no luck. The old machine was out of service and she has no choice but to travel to another government facility in Kuala Lumpur if she is to get the treatment in time.
Her daughter, Thien Yuen Fong, related her mother’s ordeal to the media, frustrated why the government could not provide the much needed radiotherapy service for her mother right here in Sabah.
“My mother was transferred to KL on June 19 but while there, she had to wait for three weeks before receiving her first radiotherapy. We are not well off and cannot afford to send her to a private hospital, so we just waited.
“She’s all alone there. No relative or family to accompany her. Crying is all she can do,” said the daughter, sobbing.
Kota Kinabalu Democratic Action Party (DAP) Youth wing helped set up a press conference for Thien to highlight the dire need for improving the medical services in the State.
Its chief, Junz Wong, pointed out that for many years there has been only one radiotherapy machine to cater for all the patients in Sabah.
“Previously, before SMC was bought over by the government, the hospital rented the machine. Now after taking over the SMC, the government is still renting it.
“It is disappointing that after 48 years, Sabah’s medical and health services still do not have the environment, system and infrastructure required to allow Sabahans to be treated adequately,” he said.
He added that Sabah deserves better treatment from the Federal government, as it is a major contributor to the country’s economy.
“The State has contributed so much revenue to the national coffer but in return only received less than 10% of the overall national budget.
“Putrajaya hospital in Kuala Lumpur has three radiotherapy machines and it is not even a state. The Health Ministry should consider providing a new, not old unreliable radiotherapy machine for cancer patients in Sabah,” he said further.
So far, Loh has received five radiotherapy treatments. She still has 20 to go.
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‘Mustahil anjing cuba selamat budak’
KOTA KINABALU 8 Mei 2011: “Mustahil haiwan (anjing) itu mahu menyelamatkan kanak-kanak ditemui dalam keadaan ‘nyawa-nyawa ikan’ di dalam longkang.
“Berdasarkan kesan gigitan pada tubuh mangsa dan hasil bedah siasat jelas menunjukkan mangsa diserang anjing itu dan budak berkenaan terjatuh ke dalam longkang yang digenangi air.”
Demikian tegas Pegawai Perubatan Hospital Ranau, Dr Mohd Fahmie Abdul Razak mengenai kejadian serangan anjing di Kampung Matan, Ranau, Khamis lalu, yang mengorbankan seorang kanak-kanak berusia tiga tahun, Mohd Raqib Mohd Rasli.
Dr Mohd Fahmie berkata demikian ketika mengulas laporan sebuah akhbar ang mendakwa kanak-kanak malang itu tidak diserang, sebaliknya cuba diselamatkan anjing peliharaan bapa saudaranya selepas terjatuh ke dalam longkang.
Menurut pegawai perubatan berkenaan, laporan akhbar itu cukup berbeza dengan hasil bedah siasat yang dilakukan pihaknya terhadap mangsa.
KERJA UBAHSUAI HQE II DIJANGKA SIAP MEI
10th March, 2011 KOTA KINABALU: Kerja-kerja pengubahsuaian Hospital Queen Elizabeth (HQE) II di Luyang, dekat sini, dijangka akan siap sepenuhnya selewat-lewatnya Mei ini, kata Menteri Kesihatan Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Beliau berkata kerja-kerja di blok tempat letak kereta hospital sudah disiapkan dan kini hanya menunggu untuk kerja-kerja menaik taraf di beberapa tingkat bangunan hospital yang perlu disempurnakan.
Katanya mengikut jadual asal kerja-kerja pengubahsuaian itu dijadualkan siap bulan lepas dan ia seharusnya mempunyai 455 katil apabila disiapkan sepenuhnya, namun setakat ini ia hanya dapat menyediakan 230 katil.
“Pihak kontraktor diberikan tempoh lanjutan demi keselamatan pesakit, sebab masih ada pesakit dalam bangunan hospital ketika ini. Jadi tempoh lanjutan diberi sehingga Mei dan selepas itu tiada lagi tempoh lanjutan akan diberikan,” katanya kepada pemberita ketika ditemui selepas melawat Hospital Queen Elizabeth I di sini kelmarin.
Liow berkata kerja-kerja pengubahsuaian di hospital itu bertujuan menambah katil pesakit di tingkat enam, tujuh dan sembilan.
Sejumlah RM76.2 juta diperuntukkan untuk kerja-kerja penambahbaikan di hospital Queen Elizabeth II.
Sementara itu Liow berkata kerja-kerja pengubahsuaian Jabatan Pengimejan Radiologi yang bernilai RM12 juta dan tiga Dewan Bedah bernilai RM3juta di hospital Queen Elizabeth I sudah siap untuk digunakan.
Sementara itu projek blok menara berkembar bernilai RM364 juta yang dijangka menyediakan 660 katil pesakit pula dijangka akan siap mengikut jadual pada bulan Disember tahun depan.
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