SANDAKAN – Tired and overworked, medical personnel here have pleaded for Sandakan folk to understand the struggles of overwhelmed Duchess of Kent Hospital (HDOK) frontliners and obey the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs).
HDOK director Dr Francis Paul said more than 100 patients need oxygen support, and deaths due to Covid-19 in HDOK had increased from about seven to 15 per month, with the 97 people who died last month including brought-in-dead cases.
“If we all obey (the SOPs), we can reduce the seriousness of Covid-19 in the district. Love yourself, family and friends. Love us, the medical frontliners; we face the risk of Covid-19 every day, and we are very tired,” he said in a Facebook post recently.
The struggles of Duchess of Kent Hospital
Sandakan is served by a single full-fledged hospital, which is HDOK.
Seeing that there are no private hospitals there, HDOK is the only medical facility that provides proper medical specialists.
Being the sole hospital in the surrounding area, it is the only health service provider that can cater to Covid-19 patients in categories 3, 4 and 5 in four districts: Sandakan, Beluran, Kinabatangan, and Telupid.
Sandakan alone recorded an average of 200 daily new Covid-19 cases for almost a month.
Despite no official statement from the Health Department or Health Ministry to verify that HDOK is overwhelmed, it is clear that the hospital is struggling to cope.
Early last month, HDOK started setting up hospital beds in its surau.
This week, HDOK also started using beds in its women’s ward for Covid-19 patients, as revealed by Sabah Health Department director Dr Rose Nani Mudin in a statement recently.
To cater to the rising demand for oxygen support here, the Sabah Health Department has sent 10 oxygen tanks from Beluran Hospital and 20 oxygen tanks from Kinabatangan Hospital.
Before that, HDOK had 166 oxygen ports and 42 oxygen tanks with capacities of 3,000 litres and 6,000 litres, respectively.
Dr Paul told The Vibes that the medical oxygen support in HDOK is now sufficient.
Sandakan’s poor vaccination rate
However, even though vaccination remains the light at the end of the tunnel in Sandakan, the district is still facing poor response from locals.
Sandakan district health officer Dr Johari Awang Besar has been promoting walk-in vaccination sessions in several vaccination centres in Sandakan daily, but has been disappointed by daily turnouts.
For instance, the walk-in vaccination centre in Hakka Hall has reduced its daily doses being offered from 1,200 down to 480.
Apparently, it only received around 53% to 55% of its target recipients.
A similar situation also occurred in Sandakan Community Hall, where not all the doses prepared were administered.
Out of Sandakan’s adult population of 363,000, only 22% (79,860) have completed their vaccination, and only more than 50% (181,500) have received their first vaccine dose.
However, as of yesterday, only 53% of Sandakan’s adult population (192,000) have registered for their vaccination via the MySejahtera app.
“There are still 182,000 eligible recipients who have yet to be inoculated.
“As long as we do not achieve herd immunity, we are still at war with Covid-19. Sandakan is still recording more than 200 daily new infections, and HDOK is now overwhelmed by patients in categories 3, 4, and 5. A lot of patients need oxygen and ventilation support.
“I urge the people of Sandakan to come to the walk-in vaccination centres to receive their vaccines,” Dr Johari said. – The Vibes, September 6, 2021
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