MOre Dengue Deaths in Penang

Young Pregnant Mother Third Dengue Victim In Penang

PENANG, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- A young mother in her first pregnancy is the third victim to have succumbed to the dengue fever in the state.

Fairuz Aziz, 25, who is believed to be carrying twins, died yesterday after she was admitted to the Penang Hospital on Thursday for dengue haemorrhagic fever.

Her seven-month-old fetuses also did not survive, a state health department spokesman said.

Fairuz, a housewife from Taman Sahabat in Teluk Kumbar here, was in a critical condition when she was admitted to the hospital. She died at about 6am yesterday.

The dengue outbreak reported in several areas in the state claimed two lives last week -- a 46-year-old woman from Bukit Gelugor and a 21-year-old man from Kampung Binjal in Bayan Lepas.

State Executive Councillor for Health P. Subaiyah said the Health Ministry would be alerted of the rising dengue cases.

He said while the health department was carrying out fogging in dengue-prone areas, the public must do their bit by destroying aedes mosquito breeding grounds.

Bayan Lepas, Teluk Kumbar and Sungai Nibong are among the dengue-prone areas, he added.

-- BERNAMA

No Aedes, No Dengue,
No Dengue, No Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever,
No DHF, No Deaths

HOSPITEL::A combination of Hospital & Hotel

Bernama.com
Malaysian National News Agency

Pusrawi Spearheads "Hospitel" Concept In M'sia
General
September 22, 2005 14:06 PM
By Faizah Izzani zakaria

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- If you pass by Jalan Tun Razak here, you will see a new building, "Hotel Putra KL", beside the National Library.

The three-star hotel, developed together with the Pusat Rawatan Islam (Pusrawi) Hospital building, not only will be the new landmark in the city, but would be pioneering a new service concept in the health tourism industry currently being promoted in this country.

The "hospitel" concept, a combination of hospital and hotel, might be new to the Malaysian society but it would be spearheading the change in the country's health services in the future.

Hospitel could provide accommodation for the patients' family members, its outpatients, as well as for local and foreign tourists to stay at the hotel while receiving treatment.

Pusrawi Hospital Corporate Development Manager Mohd Azlan Md Arshad said Hospitel, among others, targetted tourists from Indonesia and West Asia.

He said Pusrawi Hospital, which was now operational at Jalan Ipoh here, was scheduled to expand its services when the new hospital and hotel buildings at Jalan Tun Razak began their operation by year end.

The new hospital is quite special because it offers medical services based on Islamic teachings and at the same time provides hotel facilities, he said.

Mohd Azlan said the hotel rooms would undoubtedly be a great convenience to the family and friends of patients from out of Kuala Lumpur, and it would also be open to other visitors who needed comfortable and affordable accommodation.

He said the hospital would have 250 beds as compared to 90 beds at the present hospital at Jalan Ipoh, while the hotel would provide 102 rooms.

The Hospitel construction project began with the first phase in 2000 and the second phase began in 2003, comprising the construction of a nine-storey hospital building and an 11-storey Hotel Putra KL which were linked to each other.

Owned by the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP), the RM100 million project was leased to Pusrawi Hospital and Hotel Putra KL, who would be cooperating to promote health tourism, he said, adding that the cost was covered by a subsidiary of Tabung Haji Board, TH Properties Sdn Bhd.

Mohd Azlan said the hospital and hotel's location was very strategic as it was in the heart of the city and situated just in front of the National Heart Institute (IJN).

Indirectly, Hotel Putra KL would also be offering hotel accommodation to IJN visitors, he said.

"Hospitel, which adopts the Islamic concept, would be equipped with the latest facilities such as laboratories and blood bank, operation theatre, X-ray, pharmacy, circumcision services, creches and a 24-hour emergency service.

"The hotel would be offering facilities including seminar and meeting rooms, cafeteria and over 200 parking spaces," he said.

Mohd Azlan said the Islamic concept applied in the Hospitel services, would not be restricted to Muslim patients but to all patients regardless of religious or racial background.

He said Muslim patients would be treated based on Islamic teachings such as the staff would say a prayer prior to a surgery and the hospital and hotel staff would always be dressed according to the Muslim way by covering their "aurat".

Non-Muslim patients would be treated like any normal hospital patients while discounts would be given to the needy but for Muslim patients from the low income group, they are entitled to apply for the wakaf fund aid, he said.

Meanwhile, Hotel Putra KL Senior Marketing Manager Normawati Zainal Abidin said the hotel would be offering a service which would suit the middle and low income groups.

She said the hotel had not decided on the room rates or whether it would be offering special rates for clients who were dealing with Pusrawi Hospital, but added that the room rates would be affordable and reflected the hotel's standard.

--BERNAMA

Another Horror Epidural Tale

Sometime ago there was an incident, reported in the American media, where an epidural was involved, the victim turned out to be the husband of the patient who had the epidural. Now here is another unfortunate incident involving a labouring patient who had an epidural. In this case both the patient and her husbands became victims. Let the husband tell their story in full as found in the letter section of Malaysiakini ::

Local healthcare? Not for me...

I am a doctor in one of the hospitals. I have always wondered why patients are complaining about us doctors. I have been doing my best, and still they complain and complain. That is until my wife became a patient when she was about to deliver.

My wife recently gave birth via cesarean section after an unnecessary complication caused by an inexperienced and unsupervised doctor. This is our first baby and I was very concerned about my wife's well being as she was post-dated one week.

A miracle happened when her water broke and she was having very good contractions. As she was unable to tolerate the pain, we were offered an epidural to reduce the labour pain.

When the anesthetist came, he was very impolite. He never spoke or greeted me. I let him proceed with the epidural as I was confident that our doctors are well-trained. After waiting for 10 minutes, my wife’s room door remained closed. My suspicion grew as the anesthetist walked past me twice without even talking to me. I then went to check on my wife.

To my horror, my wife was on oxygen and barely conscious. Her systolic blood pressure was 44 when the epidural was given (this, my wife later told me after she had the operation). The anesthetist apparently was just standing there looking at his mobile - he did not call a red alert, he did not inform me my wife was in critical condition and my baby’s safety was compromised.

They later called an obstetrician and my wife went off for an emergency caesarean. My wife and baby survived the ordeal. After calming my nerves, l went to find out why would my wife with a healthy, low-risk pregnancy suddenly went into a complication.

The hospital immediately went into a defensive mode. The anaesthetist who did the procedure had only three months experience. This period is so brief that I would not be surprised if my wife was among his first few patients.

The hospital’s resident anesthetist who was supposed to be on standby was not available that day and later called me up without any apology or remorse to say that the doctor that day was good enough and that I was too stressed out. She said I should have let them take care of things.

Excuse me, had I not checked on my wife, that doctor would have waited until my wife went into coma. What wouldn’t I be stressed out? I placed my wife in the hands of the system which I am part of and look what happened.

I can really understand now why people complain about doctors and how they are treated by the latter. I received a phone call early in the morning the next day from the hospital’s administrator who told me there are people who would ‘get very angry’ if l lodged a formal complaint.

He said a little drop in blood pressure was to be expected and my wife was mistakenly thought to have a low blood pressure. I later spoke to another anesthetist who came all the way to check my wife and he noticed that the epidural was too high, too deep and there was an inadequate one-sided nerve block.

I immediately went mad. Is this how a loyal, seven-year in-service doctor gets treated? Is this the system l believed in? Is this what our director-general of health thinks we should be?

I am very frustrated and really thinking of quitting soon. The system does not care for its own, what more the public. Should I keep quiet because some people who want a promotion have threatened me about complaining?

I am now in depression and do not think l can ever use government health-care again especially for pregnancies. I really sympathise with those who have had the same problem. I do know now why patients complain.

I cannot do anything as I am being asked to keep quiet or people would get ‘upset’. I have nobody to turn to.

---Malaysiakini

As reported by the husband, it appears in this case the epidural, done by an inexperienced doctor, was not properly carried out. And a complication had resulted. Fortunately, at the end of the day, the patient and her baby came to little harm. But the treatment of the husband and the patient after the event was certainly uncalled for. The way the hospital authorities went into 'defensive mode' and the seemingly unacceptable explanations and subtle threats were certainly unwarranted. The patient and her doctor husband obviously had every cause to be very annoyed, frustrated, upset, depressed with the system. But all is not lost, if he wants to, he should take up the case with our new DG of Health and he may yet get satisfaction. According to media reports the DG is super-efficient and will not tolerate fools. He can definitely be expected not to expect his own MOH doctor to be so shabbily treated by the system.