KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — Klang MP Charles Santiago has urged Putrajaya today to immediately intervene in the crisis developing at Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in his constituency, that has left patients parked outside due to a shortage of beds.
Charles said he has officially requested Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba for an immediate increase in allocation for the hospital, in order to erect a stand-alone temporary facility to accommodate Covid-19 patients.
“It was a heart-wrenching sight: dozens of Covid-19 patients were parked outside Klang General Hospital’s emergency department for the lack of proper beds inside,” Charles said in a statement, referring to HTAR.
“This also sums up the state of our healthcare and particularly this hospital, it is overwhelmed as there are not enough beds, exhausted medical frontliners, plus medical equipment that are breaking down.
Photos shared by Charles showed around a dozen patients lying in folding cots outside the entrance of HTAR’s Emergency Department.
Only four cots were seen unoccupied in the photos.
Charles also urged for Putrajaya to utilise nearby budget hotels and public halls as interim accommodations for the patients.
“At the same time, I also request big corporations based in Klang to support the hospital with urgent medical equipment,” he added, stressing the need to come together in this hour of need.
Selangor recorded today 3,119 new Covid-19 patients in the last 24 hours, almost half of the total 7,097 new cases nationwide.
Yesterday’s data showed a total of 5,413 new cases in Klang over the last 14 days, which was third only to Petaling and Hulu Langat.
Meanwhile, only 8 per cent of Selangor’s adult population has received both doses of Covid-19 vaccines, while 25.3 per cent have received at least one dose.
This comes as Putrajaya announced a strict enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in most of the state, including in Klang, until July 16.
