KUCHING: Children under the age of 12 is now barred from visiting Sarawak General Hospital as the place is congested with patients, and kids typically have a weak immune system.
SGH director Dr Abdul Rahim Abdullah said the move had nothing to do with the recent case of a 71-year-old patient being infected by lung infection there.
He revealed that investigations into the case concluded that the infection was not due to the air quality in the hospital but caused by cross infection from another patient.
“Investigations have been conducted on the patient in the last few days and we found out the cause was not due to the air quality in the hospital. My doctors have talked to the family of the patient on this, and the patient is now being given antibiotics.
“We are still awaiting test results on whether the infection was TB (tuberculosis),” he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
He said this when asked about the notices which were broadcast over RTM local radio channels.
The Borneo Post yesterday received calls from concerned parents over the notices as they were worried whether the air quality in SGH had dropped or if it was a standard procedure for this time of the year.
Dr Abdul Karim confirmed there such notices had been issued to radio stations, but he stressed it was done because SGH was now congested with many patients.
“It is a general notice issued by hospitals because children generally have weaker immune system and thus exposed to air-borne diseases. Some hospitals are more relaxed with this ruling.
“But now SGH is congested and we have to issue such a notice because of the higher risk of infection to small children.”
Asked to elaborate further, he said small children would be disallowed from entering the hospital for visitations unless in special cases where they had to visit a critically-ill relative.
If the parents wanted to send their child for check up at the clinic, he advised them to go to the clinic at the SGH first where the family medicine specialist would advise them whether or not there is need to admit the child at the hospital.
SGH recently came into the media spotlight after Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Stampin branch raised concerns that the air quality in SGH could be contaminated by mold spores.
Its branch secretary Desmond Kho was quoted as saying that the 71-year-old patient was re-admitted for diarrhea and subsequently discovered to have a lung infection two weeks after being discharged from SGH following a leg complaint.
Wanita PKR vice chief Voon Shiak Ni, who is also the branch vice chief, had also claimed that the branch service centre received a number of complaints from families of patients who were admitted for other illnesses but contracted lung infection later on.
Assistant Minister of Public Health Dr Jerip Susil, meanwhile said the SGH’s Department of Infectious Diseases was carrying out investigations on the allegations of poor air quality in the SGH.
He advised patients and their family members to forward their complaints if they suspect of infection in the SGH through the proper channel.
Although he did not think the poor ventilation and air conditioning is to blame because SGH was just renovated, he stressed that a thorough probe would have to be done.
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