At about 9.30pm on Sept 17, my daughter had labour pains and the family rushed her to the Putrajaya Hospital, where she had been going for her pre-natal care and treatment.
After about an hour of registering her at the maternity unit, my daughter was told the wards were full and she could chose to either go to the Kuala Lumpur or Kajang Hospital to deliver her baby.
I argued with the nurses manning the counter they could put my daughter in the new maternity wing.
Instead, I got this reply: “The new wing is only for non-critical cases. It does not take acute cases.”
My daughter was delivering her second baby after 12 years and was considered a “critical case” along with those suffering from diabetes, heart ailments and other acute health problems.
I argued again these critical cases should be given priority to stay in the wards of the recently-opened new wing while the less or non-critical cases should be the ones advised to go to the distant hospitals. That makes better sense, I said.
But the Putrajaya Hospital staff were adamant. “We have our rules here. You can chose to go to KLH or Kajang Hospital and we will get an ambulance ready.”
They admitted, however, there were some empty beds at the new wing at that time.
We opted for Kajang and my daughter and another patient were taken there in an ambulance, while the respective families followed in a convoy.
By the time we registered her at the Kajang Hospital, it was past 11pm and she delivered her baby girl at about 1.30am on Sept 18.
The episode did not end there.
Five days after the baby was born, the child developed jaundice and, again, we went to the Putrajaya Hospital for treatment and care.
This time, a doctor told my daughter to just take the baby to a government clinic at Batu 14, Puchong as “there is nothing to worry about” and the staff could treat the baby.
However, following a check-up at the clinic, my daughter was told to immediately take the sick baby to the Serdang Hospital — where she was instantly warded at the intensive care unit of the paedriatic ward. The baby was discharged on Sept 28.
The question is: Are there reliable and competent policy makers, doctors and staff at the Putrajaya Hospital?
This was not the first heart-breaking incident that my family had encountered at this hospital.
More than two years ago, when my other daughter went there to deliver her second child, she was not even warded.
She gave birth to her baby girl in the labour room ... and, after a few hours was discharged without being warded.
It bleeds my heart to think of patients waiting hoplessly at the hospital for some tender loving care, only to be given harsh treatment to their already anguished state of mind — and even before getting the much needed healthcare and medical treatment.
Can the hospital authorities give some credible clarification to this problem plaguing Putrajaya Hospital?
SHAH A. D.Puchong, Selangor
THE STAR
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