A parent of a patient suspected of Coronavirus (COVID-19) complained of poor services and facilities at the isolation ward in the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH).
Without any provision of food, drinking water, proper sanitation, hand sanitizer or symptom management from the hospital, the family waited for around 9 hours to get the test result. The result came negative.
And the parent of the suspected patient who was kept under observation yesterday complained of poor sanitation and no proper quarantine measures.
“They took sputum and throat swab for examination to the examination centre at Serbithang. If we were quarantined, they should otherwise restrict visitors and rules should be strict. First, they don’t have water in the toilet, second, there is no drinking water for the patient and the attendant, no tissue and no hand sanitizer. We asked the brother about the food and we were told that we have to bring our own food from home. So I said, I came with my daughter and I am also a suspect, is it okay for me to go around? But they said it’s okay for me to go around since I don’t have a fever,” said Yeshi, the father of the patient.
The isolation ward at the old MCH of the JDWNRH has beds prepared for emergencies and wooden hand sanitizer holders attached by the corridors. But some toilets are without water supply and only a few hand sanitizers are found around.
He said the nurses on duty refused to provide flu medication without a prescription.
“My child got sick and I went there to treat my child but it was rather like a cell. If it was a place where people are treated, there should be health workers monitoring and providing symptom management. There is nothing. If they take 8 hours to get result for a single patient, what if 10 or 15 people are infected at once and have to conduct a test, are they going to take 3 to 4 days just to get the result?” he added.
However, according to health officials at the JDWNRH, examination centre usually takes around 4 to 5 hours to get the test result. In yesterday’s case, the machine had a problem and examiners had to conduct the test twice.
Moreover, the hospital is said to be providing the facilities and comfort that is in their capacity. In the case of water supply in the old MCH ward, they said it is provided on an hourly basis.
Officials say it was based on the protocol to keep the patients in the waiting room for 8 hours but they say frequent monitoring is not required until the result is positive.
Following this incident, the hospital will now provide snacks, fast food and water to the suspected patients who are being kept under observations.
During every press conference, the Health Ministry has been urging people with a fever to come forward, so that health officials can treat by symptom management.
Sangay Chezom/Kinley Dem
