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Emergency in Name Only at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital Alor Setar
By Mihar Dias January 2026
They pushed Pak Tam into the Emergency Department of Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital one evening.
No ambulance.
No siren.
Just his wife, struggling to wheel her paralysed 67-year-old husband inside.
Pak Tam was burning with fever — a recurring urinary infection, the kind many elderly Malaysians quietly endure and depend on public hospitals to treat.
They registered.
And waited.
One hour.
Two.
Three.
By the fourth hour, Pak Tam was shivering — part fever, part the merciless blast of hospital air-conditioning. His body trembled uncontrollably.
By the sixth hour, close to midnight, nothing had happened.
No doctor.
No nurse.
No stretcher.
Just the slow parade of numbers being called — but never his.
Apparently, “Emergency” now operates on a queue system where pain must learn patience.
Exhausted, freezing and clearly forgotten, Pak Tam and his wife made a painful choice.
They left.
On the way out, reality delivered its cruellest lesson.
An old woman — Mak Cik — was lying flat on the cold hospital floor.
Not sitting.
Lying.
Her husband was in the Emergency Ward waiting to be treated.
She said they came from a kampung near the Thai border. A rented car dropped them off at dawn. The driver left.
Since morning, they had been there.
Hungry.
Cold.
Tired.
Waiting.
No food.
No bed.
No help.
Suddenly, Pak Tam and his wife felt almost fortunate.
At least they had a car.
At least they could scrape money for a private clinic.
At least there was a 24-hour mamak shop for hot tea and food.
At least they could go home and sleep in their own bed.
But Mak Cik on the floor?
Only God knows.
This is not the Malaysia we are constantly told about — with “world-class healthcare” and “people-first reforms”.
An emergency department where the elderly lie on the floor is not merely busy.
It is failing.
Where were the leaders that night?
Was the Minister of Health making a surprise visit — the kind where wards are tidied up beforehand?
Was the Reformasi Prime Minister touring hospitals with cameras in tow?
Was the smooth-talking Menteri Besar checking on the poor and infirm?
Would any of them sit beside Pak Tam as he shivered for six hours?
Would any of them kneel next to Mak Cik on the cold tiles?
Or do such people no longer matter because they don’t come with VIP escorts and press releases?
Perhaps they don’t count anymore.
After all, sick old villagers don’t trend on social media.
This is not just about one hospital.
It is about a system that has normalised suffering.
Where overcrowding is explained away.
Where endless waiting is accepted.
Where human dignity becomes optional.
Pak Tam went home untreated.
Mak Cik remained on the floor.
Somewhere else, officials likely slept comfortably, confident that everything is “under control”.
But if this is reform, it is built on rakyat pain.
If this is progress, it has forgotten compassion.
And if this is the future of public healthcare, God help the poor.
Because clearly — no one else is.
(As told by Pak Tam of Alor Setar)
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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