GEORGE TOWN – A 106-year-old nursing home resident who was admitted to Penang Hospital last week after testing positive for Covid-19 died yesterday.
A relative of hers is now questioning the nursing home’s management over the matter.
This follows the death of another resident to the coronavirus at the same home.
On October 28, the 81-year-old mother of a former journalist who had been staying at the home for more than four years died after contracting the virus. Her body was cremated at the Batu Gantong Crematorium last Saturday.
An official at the home said its management immediately alerted the state Health Department and complied with its instructions upon detecting that the 106-year-old was positive for Covid-19.
The centenarian was said to have recovered and had been undergoing treatment. However, her condition deteriorated and she died of complications at hospital.
Hospital authorities, meanwhile, told relatives that the body will be handed over to them after a post-mortem, expected to conduct the post-mortem today, is conducted.
A relative expressed disappointment and anger over the death, questioning the nursing home’s reaction when Covid-19 cases are diagnosed among the residents.
The Vibes had on October 28 reported that a total of 32 nursing home residents, including the 106-year-old woman, had been admitted to Penang Hospital after they were confirmed to have contracted Covid-19.
It is understood that the 106-year-old had been at the home for the last 18 years.
The relative questioned the home’s actions for failing to prevent the infections and deaths.
The late 81-year-old’s daughter, who declined to be named, said the management could have acted more appropriately to prevent the virus from spreading.
She expressed her sadness over what had happened at the home and said she had lost her elderly mother.
An executive from the nursing home, however, said that it was wrong to claim that the management had been slow in reacting.
She said the management’s first reaction was to alert the state Health Department and follow its instructions on the matter.
“It is untrue that the nursing carers first tested positive for the virus. It was the residents who contracted the disease, and we closed down the whole floor and segregated the residents from those infected.
“It is unfair to blame us by saying that we reacted slowly to the problem,” she said.
On compensation and unpaid bills of the deceased residents’ families, she said the families can discuss the issue with the home’s management.
She said currently, 31 of residents are admitted to Penang Hospital and the remaining eight tested negative for Covid-19.
Several attempts to contact the state Health Department for comments failed.
Currently, Penang’s close to 95% of the adult population registered with the MySejahtera app has been fully vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry’s CovidNow website.
New daily cases dropped to just 270 and one death yesterday, with active cases at 3,471.
Total fatalities attributed to Covid-19 in Penang stands at 1,590 as of noon today. – The Vibes, November 1, 2021
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