KOTA KINABALU, June 29 — Sabah's Health Department has responded to a viral Facebook post depicting the crowded conditions at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), highlighting the overstretched public hospital’s infrastructure and manpower.

The statement came after a Facebook user named Sualim Gopog shared his experience accompanying a family member to the hospital's Emergency and Trauma Department (ETD) in the early hours of the morning including slow moving queues and many people found sleeping in the lobby and outside the hospital building.

In the widely shared post, Gopog described seeing dozens of people sleeping on benches and on the floor of the corridors, relatives searching for food after the hospital canteen closed at 12am, near-impossible parking, and patients waiting hours to be seen.

He noted that although his family member's queue number moved slowly — from 149 to 143 after nearly two hours — he did not witness any complaints from those waiting.

The Sabah Health Department said it ran a preliminary investigation and downplayed the situation, citing the realities of the state’s busiest hospital serving as the main referral center.

“Patients at the ETD are treated according to the severity of their condition under the triage system, and not solely based on queue numbers. More critical cases are prioritised for immediate treatment.

“On the night in question, ETD services operated as usual with a continuous influx of patients. In the Green Zone, a total of 42 patients were recorded between 9pm and 10am, with two medical officers on duty to attend to non-critical cases,” they said in a statement here today.

Regarding images showing members of the public resting or sleeping in the hospital lobby and corridors at night, the department said that they were not patients waiting for treatment or appointments at the ETD.

“Most of them were family members, caregivers or visitors from outside Kota Kinabalu and Sabah's interior who were accompanying patients and faced difficulties securing temporary accommodation outside the hospital.

“QEH has a visitors' hostel; however, it is insufficient to accommodate the large number of patients' relatives,” they said.

They also clarified that the hospital’s canteen usually operates 24 hours a day, except for a temporary closure every Saturday from midnight until 5am to allow for scheduled cleaning works.

The department also acknowledged the limited parking at QEH, a perennial problem plaguing the hospital for years.

“The hospital will continue to monitor traffic flow and parking management in collaboration with its security personnel to reduce congestion as far as existing facilities allow.

“As part of ongoing improvements, QEH will strengthen monitoring of the lobby, public corridors and waiting areas at night, review communication regarding canteen operating hours, and improve communication with patients and their families on waiting procedures and treatment priorities at the ETD,” they said.

In the viral post, Sualim praised the dedication of the doctors who worked tirelessly throughout the shift.

Despite a decent record of services provided, Sabahans have for years been complaining about the state’s inadequate healthcare facilities including severe shortage of doctors, particularly at major referral centres such as Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which serves patients from across Sabah.

The federal government has promised temporary upgrades as plans are put into place to provide better services but the effects have yet to be felt on the ground.