Deputy health minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said the implementation of EH at several selected clinics had not resolved the issue of congestion, especially in the green zone of emergency departments.

“The number of patients increased even though we introduced EH.

“Therefore, we are still studying the suitability of the EH approach to reduce congestion in the green zones, as we have facilities that have introduced short-stay units in their emergency departments,” he said during the question-and-answer session.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Dr RA Lingeswaran, who asked about the impact of the implementation of EH at health clinics on congestion across emergency departments.

According to Lukanisman, EH was implemented in 2008 to alleviate congestion in green zones across the country.

Currently, a total of 49 government clinics have adopted EH.

“Generally, EH is implemented from 5pm to 9.30pm on weekdays and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays,” he said.