Sabah Health Dept acts on QEH leaks

Christina Rundi

KOTA KINABALU, May 20 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Health Department has constructed a concrete barrier to prevent further leakages on Level 4 of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) which on Thursday caused rainwater to seep down to the operating theatre (OT) and other sections on Level 3.

State health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said the hospital concessionaires had already been directed to carry out cleaning works while a meeting was also held by the hospital management to ensure that surgical services would not be hindered.

She said the affected sections on level 3 included the central sterile service unit.

“There were five patients in the operating theatre at the time, of which two were for elective surgery and three, for emergency surgery,” she said in a statement today, in reference to a video about the leak following a heavy downpour, that went viral and reported by a news portal. 

She said all the surgery cases were completed except one, for elective surgery, which had not begun then.

The torrential rain on Thursday that lasted for one and a half hours from 4.30 pm also caused flash floods at the hospital's parking area and surrounding routes.

Dr Christina said the emergency surgeries on that day were done in the hospital's other OTs while the elective surgery cases were done at QEH II and Sabah Women and Children Hospital.

According to her, eight OTs would be functioning as usual next week, while another eight which were being cleaned and undergoing minor repairs, would be reopened after the air sample result is obtained.

“Rest assured that all the operating theatres would function normally by May 27. There is no damage to the medical machines, medicines or electrical wiring system,” she said.

She added that the department would seek long term measures to prevent a similar occurrence, and apologised to clients and patients for the disruption as a result of the incident.

-- BERNAMA