KUALA LUMPUR: The Negri Sembilan Health Department has explained that a fire in the main switch room of Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital (HTJS) on Thursday disrupted operations.
State health director Datuk Dr Harlina Abdul Rashid said there was a delay in the admission of some patients to the ward which was also caused by the high number of patients at the Emergency and Trauma Department (ETD) at that time and the unavailability of beds in the ward.
"To reduce the congestion, a 'discharge lounge' with six beds and a 'holding bay' with a capacity of 12 beds as a temporary transit ward have been provided to lessen the impact of the delay," she said in a statement.
Harlina added that three measures would continue to be activated if a similar situation happened in the future.
The measures are monitoring the situation of each shift in the ETD to ensure patients are given appropriate priority, implementation of a 'step-down' process for patients by transferring suitable cases to other hospitals in the state when necessary and immediate mobilisation of additional staff to the ETD if needed.
She also urged the people with mild symptoms to seek treatment at health clinics nearby to ensure the hospital's ETD could focus on emergency cases and reduce the congestion there.
"HTJS and the Health Ministry remain committed and will always ensure that there is no compromise in the quality of patient care. Patients arriving at the ETD will be managed and triaged promptly." On Thursday, 'Harian Metro' reported complaints from patients about the unusual bed congestion in the wards of HTJS.
Harlina had said a fire that broke out in the hospital's main switchboard room only caused a power cut in the main building and did not affect other buildings.
She said HTJS activated its Business Continuity Plan to ensure hospital services remained unaffected.
A team from the Seremban Fire and Rescue Department arrived at the scene at 12.48pm and extinguished the blaze by 1.35pm. No casualties were reported.
Further investigations are underway.