MO at Likas hospital in the soup over rudeness to emergency patient

KOTA KINABALU: A medical officer at the Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas near here is in hot water for allegedly being rude to a patient waiting at the emergency unit last week.

The officer, identified only as Azlinah, was said to have scolded and spoke in rude tones to a patient who asked about the running waiting numbers as she had been there for over two hours.

The complainant, Fatimah, claimed she and quite a few other people were asked to wait for their turn at an open area during the rain at that time, and when she asked why her number had not been called yet, the officer apparently snapped.

“I had been waiting for over two hours and the numbers were not running. That was why I asked,” she told a local news agency.

“This is very much regretful on the part of the hospital because we wouldn’t be here waiting in such weather in the night if we were not ill and needed medical attention,” she said.

Fatimah claimed that the medical officer Azlinah had uttered some rude words apart from asking them to just take a paracetamol tablet to suppress their pain if they could not wait and could not bear the pain.

She said the others who were waiting with her were also shocked and angry at how Azlinah handled the situation.

She said Azlinah would have understood their medical condition as they had already put it in their report upon registering.

“We hope action can be taken to rectify the situation so that such matters do not recur,” Fatimah said.

Sabah Health director Dr Asits Sanna said they have taken measures to address the complaint, and were awaiting the full report for further action.

He said a meeting between Fatimah and Azlinah will be set up soon to solve the conflict.

He urged all medical personnel to be at their highest level of professionalism at all times especially when dealing with patients.

Dr Asits assured the public that the department takes note of and appreciates such feedback from the public and strives to be better in their daily duties as medical practitioners.