SANDAKAN – More Duchess of Kent Hospital (HDOK) personnel will be quarantined after an employee tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday.
The staffer in question, who asked to remain anonymous, said five nurses tested positive a few days before he did.
“It creates a big problem for the hospital. We are already short on staff with the increasing number of Covid-19 patients.
“With medical personnel testing positive, it means that their colleagues, too, need to be quarantined while waiting for their Covid-19 test results. They cannot go to work.
“Let’s say a department has 20 staff nurses, and one tests positive. If she was in close contact with seven others on the team, then the seven will need to be swabbed and quarantined.
“This leaves the department with only 12 staff to carry out work meant for 20 people.”
He said the hospital has transferred doctors, nurses and other health personnel from non-coronavirus departments to help in Covid-19 wards.
The patient, who has a 1-year-old son, urged people to understand the struggle faced by Sabah health workers, particularly those at HDOK.
“Due to the staff shortage, we changed from an eight-hour work shift to 12 hours. I can assure you that the medical staff at HDOK are getting fatigued and burnt out. It is extremely tiring for us.
“When you are working so hard, sometimes, for the first few weeks, you can still manage. But when the duration is prolonged, people get tired, mentally and physically.
“There is support provided by our psychiatry team for hospital staff, but I was not able to attend (counselling sessions) due to work.”
The district here has 241 active Covid-19 cases at the latest count.
The Vibes earlier reported that some patients are forced to stay at the HDOK waiting area until beds are available.
The local government has opened up the Sandakan sports complex’s badminton hall to accommodate the rapidly growing number of patients.
In Kota Kinabalu, two nurses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital II intensive care unit have tested positive for the virus, resulting in 40 of the facility’s 66 nurses being quarantined.
Sabah health director Dr Christina Rundi has said the department will ensure health services are not affected following the detection of cases among medical personnel.
The state has registered a total of 3,842 infections, of which 2,380 are active cases. –The Vibes, October 11, 2020
