Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Health Department has sought to explain the delay in dispatching an ambulance to the aid of a 54-year-old man who eventually died from a heart attack in Kolombong, Kota Kinabalu on Thursday.
Sabah Health Director Dr Rose Nani Mudin said an initial emergency call was made to the Malaysian Emergency Response Services (MERS999) system at 12.06pm, but the line was cut while the caller was being diverted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital II (QEH2) emergency call centre.
Rose added that the call was diverted by the MERS999 Regional Centre to the hospital’s call centre so that it could verify the case and get further details.
In a statement, she said six attempts by the regional centre and hospital’s call centre to contact the first caller again were unsuccessful.
She said the department examined real-time data in the Malaysia Emergency Response Services 999 (MERS 999) database.
The results showed that MERS 999 had received a phone call at 12.06pm from a caller, but the line was disconnected during the connection process from MERS 999 Regional Centre to the Medical Emergency Call Centre (MECC) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the case verification process and more information.
“A total of six call-back attempts to the caller were made by the Regional Centre and MECC from 12.07 to 12.19pm but the caller could not be reached, resulting in the ambulance not being able to be activated due to unclear location information,” said Dr Rose.
She added that at 1.01pm, MERS 999 received a second call from another caller who provided complete information.
“The responder team from Queen Elizabeth Il Hospital was activated at 1.04pm and arrived at the scene at 1.16pm.
“Upon arrival at the scene, the responder team found the 54-year-old patient had no signs of life, and confirmation of death was made by a medical officer,” she added.
Rose maintained that the department was committed to ensuring the best level of healthcare services was given to the public, especially to save lives.
“Therefore, we ask for cooperation from every caller and member of the public to give complete information when making emergency calls so that first responders can act quickly.”
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