Health Transformation Plan – perhaps get the basics right first

Klang hospital
Klang hospital – source Wikipedia

We wondered about the Health Transformation Plan – what is it exactly?. The cynical amongst us might say the only thing which has transformed is the name from 1Care to Health Transformation Plan, but we genuinely believe the administration is trying to do something for the betterment of the country.
However it is still very disappointing to read of news reports like Fear and loathing at two unhygienic Selangor hospitals

Staff and patients expressed their disappointment over the unhygienic conditions at two hospitals in Selangor.
A medical officer from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang said, for the past nine days the hospital had been in the most unhygienic condition.
“Bins were overflowing, toilets and wards were not cleaned.
“It was a horrible situation to be in. The wards were in a deplorable state and the nauseating stench from the toilets was disgusting,” he said.
The staff member, who requested anonymity, said the hospital authority had even instructed the nurses to clean the toilets to ensure the stench was kept under control.
“Cleaning toilets is definitely not the job of a nurse, it has been a horrible environment to work in,” he said.
He said, this was not the first time the hospitals faced this situation. The same problem occurred two years ago.
A doctor from the hospital said: “I feel for the patients, yet they have been forced to put up with deplorable conditions here.”

Not only deplorable but downright disgraceful for a hospital to have unhygienic standards. If the PHFSA standards were to be applied to these hospitals, they should be shut down. Perhaps the first step towards Healthcare transformation is to get the basics right first.
Clean up the hospitals!

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Malaysian physician, haematologist, blogger, web and tech enthusiast