Hospital 'not at fault'

NST: KLANG: Too many patients, too few doctors and not enough information.
This apparently was what happened when Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) top scorer D. Dhanes was admitted to the Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) for dengue on Dec 18.
Dhanes died the next day — 10 days before his examination results were an - nounced. He scored seven As in the PMR.
His family is outraged with the explanation given by the hospital authorities during a closed-door meeting yesterday.
Dhanes’ older brother, D. Prakash, 19, said the government clinic, where Dhanes had earlier sought treatment before being transferred to the hospital, had failed to alert HTAR over the boy’s critical condition.
The family was also told that HTAR was overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases and the shortage of doctors.
They are now mulling legal action against the hospital.
Sri Andalas assemblyman Kamala Ganapathy, who arranged for the meeting, said the hospital must take steps to ensure that a similar situation did not arise again.
When contacted, HTAR director Dr Yahaya Baba said the hospital was not at fault and this had been explained to the family during the meeting.
Selangor executive councillor for Tourism, Health and Consumer Affairs Datuk Dr Lim Thuang Seng said that a new ward to accommodate the surge of dengue cases had been opened at the Sungai Buloh Hospital.
It is learnt that the new ward caters specifically for dengue cases in view of the increase in the number of patients.
Klang saw an increase in cases in the final months of 2006, while Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Kajang saw a rise in cases throughout the year.
Dr Lim said overall the picture was not too grim as there had been a marked reduction in cases as compared with 2005 despite the year-end spike.