KUCHING, April 30 — Sarawak Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing today assured the public that the situation at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) is under control, in response to online rumours.
He said SGH has taken measures to make sure that everything is under control.
“The first measure is to strength the infection control measures among the healthcare workers, tighten up the monitoring on the strict infection control practices, for example, hand hygiene, the use of PPE, usage of surgical masks for all the staff in all the clinical areas,” he said at a media briefing led by Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
He said the SGH management has also strengthened the enforcement of social distancing that is very important among the healthcare workers when they are in the pantry or when they are in the wards.
“We will screen all the patients who are admitted to SGH to find out if they are having any Covid-19 infection,” he said when responding to a letter being circulated in social media regarding the situation at the SGH.
Dr Chin also said the SGH management has designated staff who will take care of specific wards so they will not be mixing with other staff from other wards.
“The working hours of the staff will be re-organised into shifts and partial shifts,” he said, adding that the SGH will be strengthening the enhancement of the environmental sanitation, including regular disinfection of the hard surfaces, like lifts, healthcare machines and ward surfaces.
“We will also provide face masks to the patients, regardless of whether they have signs or symptoms or not, even to non-Covid patients so that the staff who are taking care of them will all be given the protection,” he said.
“We will also strengthen the management of data of entry for all the staff so that we will know whether they have been screened or not and the results of the screen.
“We also do active case detection among healthcare workers. We will screen them so that we can know if they have contracted the disease.
“If they have the disease, we will quarantine them and put them under treatment,” he said.
Uggah said SDMC has expressed its concern over the spread of fake news in social media relating to the SGH.
He said the fake news gave the impression that the people were unhappy with the healthcare workers.
He said it is for this reason that he has asked Dr Chin to inform the public on the situation at the SGH and to explain the standard operating procedure being used at the hospital.
“In other words, they are also very concerned with the welfare and wellbeing of the healthcare workers,” Uggah said.
