Sandakan hospital struggling to cope with rising Covid-19 cases

SANDAKAN – With 196 Covid-19 patients at the Sandakan’s sole hospital, the Hospital Duchess of Kent is finding it hard to manage.   

Hospital director Dr. Francis Paul said the hospital will be closing all its specialist clinics beginning Monday to mobilise its staff to work in the Covid-19 wards.   

The specialist clinic services include Surgical Outpatient, Medical Outpatients, Paediatric, General Outpatient, Eye, Otorhinolaryngology, Mouth Surgery, Psychiatric and Paediatric Dental.   

The specialist clinics are expected to resume operations on October 23.   

“Fourteen days, 14 is the magic number. Hopefully we can flatten the curve and reduce transmission casses within 14 days.

“It also will help reduce exposure risk to our staff members, because we do not want them to be infected or quarantined,” he told The Vibes.    

Paul said the hospital is working on adding beds to cater to more Covid-19 patients.   

As of yesterday, Sandakan has another 35 more cases.   

The hospital can hardly cope with the sudden spike in new infections, causing some patients to be left waiting for hours before being moved to the wards. Some of them fell asleep on the chairs in the waiting area.

A 41-year-old civil servant, who is Covid-19 positive, said he waited from noon to 11.30pm  on Wednesday before getting a bed.   

“There were about 10 of us in the waiting hall. We had to sleep on chairs in the waiting area, which was very uncomfortable. We are already suffering from the virus.   

“However, I understand the struggle that the hospital is going through. They did not expect this. I hope the Health Ministry or (Sabah) Health Department will act quickly to arrange for more beds.   

“Looking at the Covid-19 situation in Sandakan, the cases will only continue to increase,” he said.    

The father of four children said the hospital staff looked sufficient and provided excellent service.  

Concerns over Batu Sapi by-election   

With the looming Batu Sapi by-election after the death of incumbent Datuk Liew Vui Keong last week, hospital director Paul said: “As if we do not have enough (Covid-19) cases already.”

Batu Sapi constituency has 32,574 registered voters according to Election Commission’s 2018 data.  

However, there is a possibility that Warisan will win the seat uncontested after Barisan Nasional and Parti Cinta Sabah are sitting out.

A total of 1,943 Covid-19 patients are being treated across Sabah.

Two new clusters in Sabah were detected yesterday – Tujuh Serangkai cluster in Tuaran has three new cases and Tanamera cluster in Tawau has two new cases.

Three other clusters that recorded new cases are Ramai-Ramai in Sandakan (six), Laut (five) and Benteng LD (three). – The Vibes, October 9, 2020