Long live the Queen.

Something to write before I leave Sabah at the end of this month... Because I feel sorry about it and also because other than this, I can't do much. Also, take note that I'm NOT bashing. I'm just lamenting.

Anyway...

6 months since the declaration that the building is no longer save for occupation with its cracking ceilings and walls, nothing has happened. The building still stood like a sore thumb, waiting for God knows what. Waiting to be declared as a heritage perhaps? Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Forever In Memory, RIP.

And so...




I watched as the doctors and paramedical staffs scramble around, from SMC to Bukit Padang to Likas to escort patient for CT scan, to operating theatres and for ward transfers.

I watched the health personnel and patients alike suffer and suffocate in the crowded war zones called the wards.

I was the one who had to tell the bloated boy with nephrotic syndrome to switch beds with the breathless elderly man on the makeshift bed on the floor because his bed has an oxygen tank attached to it and the ward's oxygen tanks were nowhere to be seen, and because that's the fastest and easiest way to get the uncle on oxygen.

I was accidentally kicked by a houseman who nearly tripped over me who was taking blood for Culture and Sensitivity on the floor. Luckily I had not uncap the needle yet. That was a VERY close call. Why on the floor? The poor lad with suspected malaria was placed on a floor bed and wow, the spaces between these beds are about only 1 - 2 feet.

I was there when 20 new admissions came in within 3 hours, and watched as makeshift beds were unfolded on the floor to accommodate the patients. And had to tell many patients that the ward had ran out of blanket, but it’s freaking hot anyway.

I watched harried nurses rushing off to photocopy Pathology forms when the Medical wards became swamped with feverish patients, while the housemen tore the carbon copies apart to make do. Then they tossed the syringe and hundred blood bottles to willing medical students. If there are 10 patients (In your dreams...), 3 basic tests each plus additional tests. You do the math. (BTW, the labs insisted on specimens with at least 2 ml of blood per bottle, and use green needle for taking BUSE and creatinine)

I entered a ward where all field of surgical patients are lumped together; General Surgery, Orthopedic, ENT, Dental, Urology, Plastic. If this is a merely district hospital, it’s quite acceptable, but for a tertiary referral centre?

I listened as doctors tell patient that they have to wait in line for 3 – 6 months for an ultrasound of the suspicious breast lump, or pay themselves to get it done faster at private centers.

I followed the rounds where Specialists rushed through the many patients while housemen frantically try to trace results from the miniature labs in Queen that not only cater Queen itself, but some of Likas’ specimens too. Or the housemen will toss the phone and directory to medical students to help them while they rush off to a breathless patient or to deliver the forms themselves before the labs closed at 5. Or else, goodbye LFT and others.

I sutured 4 cases in 1 hour time in A&E while the health personnel scrambled around to handle the congested A&E. But they still pushed me away and allowed the Russian elective students instead to perform CPR with crooked arms. Hoh... And nobody said anything.


BTW, for better information and a delicious dose of sarcasm, you can visit the links below.

• How to overcome health crisis
• A newspaper article on this blog
• How to Make Easy Money In A Healthcare Crisis
• An Open Apology To The Health Minister
• Health Minister: Quality health services assured