KOTA KINABALU – It was a case of disconnected emergency calls as a man died after being found lying helpless inside his vehicle in Taman Nelly, Kolombong here yesterday.
Sabah Health Director Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin said that the first MERS 999 call was disconnected during a call transfer to the hospital and the details given were incomplete.
She added that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Medical Emergency Call Centre (MECC) tried six times to ring the caller but to no avail.
“Based on call logs, MERS 999 had received the call around 12.06pm, but the call disconnected while it was being transferred to the local MECC for the process of verification and further information,” she said in a statement today.
Rose Nani said there had been six attempts to contact the caller between 12.07pm and 12.19pm, but they were unanswered.
She added that details such as the location were unclear, so an ambulance could not be deployed.
“Around 1.01pm, MERS 999 received another call and the complete details were obtained. A team from the hospital was deployed at 1.04pm and arrived on site at 1.16pm.
“Upon arrival, the team found the victim showed no signs of life and the medical officer confirmed that he was dead,” she said.
The MERS 999 centre has come under fire after it took an hour for an ambulance to attend to an emergency call yesterday afternoon.
The victim was identified as Ipoh baker Liew Kok Fai, and reports suggested he suffered a heart attack while driving.
An eyewitness said he saw that the vehicle Liew was driving suddenly swerved to the side and slammed against a concrete fence. – The Vibes, May 6, 2022
