KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — No surgeries were carried out when the ceiling of an operating theatre at Hospital Queen Elizabeth in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, was leaking, the Sabah Health Department clarified.
Sabah Health Department director Dr Christina Rundi said during heavy rainfall on May 16 that caused leaks and flooding in the government hospital, including in the operating theatre on the third floor, five patients were in the operating theatre at the time.
“All of the surgeries were completed except for one patient whose elective surgery had not yet begun,” Rundi said in a statement.
She also said the leaks had only affected four out of 16 operating theatres and surrounding areas at Hospital Queen Elizabeth.
“On the day of the incident, emergency surgery could still be carried out at Hospital Queen Elizabeth by using the unaffected operating theatres, whereas elective surgery would be moved to Hospital Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Sabah Women’s and Children’s Hospital.”
Rundi said the hospital’s concessionaire, Sedafiat, had started cleaning works at the hospital immediately after the flooding, labouring for 24 hours.
She estimated all operating theatres at Hospital Queen Elizabeth to resume operations by May 27.
“No medical machines, medicines, or electrical systems were damaged from this incident.”
A Facebook user called “Pemerhati Kkm” posted last week videos that showed water dripping heavily from the ceiling at Hospital Queen Elizabeth, including in an occupied operating theatre.
The Facebook user had also complained about Sabah’s allegedly insufficient health budget.
