Early in the month, it was reported that more than 200 doctors and nurses had contracted Covid-19 and the hospital was forced to close its doors to new patients. However, an official denied this, saying there were only 30 cases and they were all doctors.
Two weeks ago, a surge in cases caused by the Delta variant in the Kuala Muda district saw almost all 498 beds in the hospital taken up, forcing the conversion of regular wards into Covid-19 wards.
Last week, the hospital had to resort to placing 20 beds under the trees at the car park for Category 1 Covid-19 patients. The Tzu Chi organisation, a Buddhist group, came to the rescue by donating 150 foldable beds.
The donated beds will be used for a new ward meant for Category 1 and 2 patients, a doctor speaking on condition of anonymity told FMT.
“While the beds can help meet demand, we are still short of medical officers and nurses,” he said. “What is the use of having extra beds with no one to look after the patients? Ideally, we should have at least 20 medical officers, doctors and specialists on standby.
“Why not bring staff from other states? We are also short of oximeters and other important equipment to support these new beds.”
He said the hospital was under severe stress and most doctors were on shifts of more than 24 hours.
“Mind you,” he said, “we ‘re the main hospital for the Kuala Muda district, which has been a red zone since March last year.”
He added that all 18 intensive care unit (ICU) beds had been taken up and the 28 temporary ICU beds at 11 converted wards have also been filled up.
Non-critical cases have been referred to two nearby private hospitals, effectively making the hospital a Covid-19 hospital.
The doctor said the lack of medical personnel and intensive care unit beds had cost lives. Nearly every Covid-19 patient seeking treatment had deteriorated to Category 4 or 5, he claimed.
“I lost a few patients in a week, all of whom had no underlying major illnesses,” he said.
“I also saw a family of four die. Our hospital has seen the most brought-in-dead (BID) cases in Kedah.
“Close to half of these BID cases are ones we have discharged, only to return dead later. In one case, we had to carry out emergency surgery to remove the baby from a woman who was eight months pregnant. She was gasping for air.”
He said the hospital’s latest plea for containers to store dead bodies was not surprising.
To make matters worse, there are not enough people to help cremate the bodies. Cremation requires at least three people, including a health inspector.
“That is why we can only release five to six bodies a day,” the doctor said. “The rest are backlog.
“Then, there are those who cannot afford a burial. There are non-Muslim funeral touts waiting at the mortuary asking for RM6,000 for caskets.”
Kedah yesterday recorded 1,281 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the grand total to 44,242 with 12,532 active cases.
As of yesterday, Sungai Petani had recorded the worst numbers in Kedah, with 2,333 active cases out of the Kuala Muda district’s 4,879 cases in the past two weeks.
FMT has contacted the Kedah health director for comment.
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