Report: Crowded hospitals turning away patients amid flu outbreak

Government and major private hospitals in the Klang Valley are turning away Influenza A patients, according to a report.

According to Free Malaysia Today, the patients are being turned away despite being referred for admission after diagnosis, with many claiming to have “run out of beds”.

It also quoted Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care saying that both its medical centres Subang Jaya, Ara Damansara and ParkCity medical centres were seeing more cases than usual.

For the time being, patients are being treated symptomatically.

“We are keeping a close watch on these cases and advising our patients that if their symptoms do not subside and get severe instead, they should come back to the hospital to get a review,” the private healthcare provider reportedly said.

It later clarified that its Emergency Departments are still accepting patients and patients would be admitted as required, following earlier reports on the contrary.

Free Malaysia Today also reported that Assunta Hospital and Thomson Medical Centre in Petaling Jaya had said they have run out of beds, while the Damansara Specialist Centre said they were waiting for fresh stocks of anti-influenza drugs.

The Sungai Buloh Hospital, meanwhile, is reportedly still accepting patients.

Previously, some healthcare facilities have reported a spike in flu cases and certain private facilities had run out of Oseltamivir – the influenza medication also known as Tamiflu.

The Health Ministry said it has sufficient stocks of Oseltamivir at government facilities and said it would expedite approvals for private facilities to import more of the drug.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah urged those in high-risk groups - namely children below the age of five, senior citizens above 65, pregnant women and those with underlying medical diseases - to seek vaccination.