Going early to avoid long wait

NST: KOTA KINABALU: Madam Yapp goes for her medical review twice a month at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Complex. Each visit starts at 6.15am.
"I would go for a blood test before I am given a number for my consultation with a specialist doctor," said the woman, who declined to give her full name.
"Normally, everything would be over by about 11am," said Yapp.
But if she was late by about an hour, she would have to stay until late afternoon. By then, the hospital would be packed with patients.
A nurse accompanying Yapp explained that priority was given to those who needed regular check-ups. It is for this reason that the registration counter is open as early as 6am.
"By the time the unit opens at 8am, this place would be crowded with people without appointments," said the nurse, referring to the outpatient waiting area which could swell with up to 100 people, exceeding its capacity.
"There used to be more outpatients but the number has been reduced by more than half since the Luyang Hospital opened more than five years ago," said the nurse.
Adjacent to the outpatient unit is the emergency ward, which has more than 10 beds but only three are properly equipped to perform thorough checks on patients.
Its called the "red zone", said a doctor on duty recently.
"On average, we get about 80 people in the emergency section. It's always busy here," said the doctor, who also declined to be named.
A businessman, Michael Liew, who was once taken to the hospital's emergency ward after collapsing in a coffeeshop, said it took about an hour before a doctor could take a look at him after an initial check by a nurse.
"I don't blame them at all because I could see four beds with people covered in blood and one man, I think, had just had a heart attack," he said, adding that he was put in a wheelchair.
"Imagine if there was a major bus accident. How would they cope?"