Seek treatment at Mahmoodiah Health Clinic for minor illnesses, overcrowding at HSA

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Those suffering from minor illnesses are advised to get treatment at the Mahmoodiah Health Clinic to avoid overcrowding at the Emergency and Trauma Department (JKT) of the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Bahru.

Johor Health and Unity Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the clinic will now operate from 8 am to 9 pm compared to 8 am to 5 pm previously.

He said extending the operating hours was one of the measures taken to overcome the issue of congestion at the Yellow and Red zones at the HSA JKT, thus preventing the Green Zone from being closed to accommodate patients from the other two zones.

"The HSA is the busiest hospital in Johor and its JKT receives an average of 600 patients per day, so imagine the high number of patients we receive every hour.

"That's why the state government and Ministry of Health (MOH) have extended the operating hours of the Mahmoodiah Health Clinic so that patients with minor illnesses can be referred to the clinic to ease the burden at the JKT," he said when asked to comment on measures taken by the state government to overcome overcrowding at the HSA JKT.

He said this at a media conference after the signing of the 'Towards a Cervical Cancer-Free World' memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Gleneagles Hospital and the ROSE Foundation in conjunction with the Cervical Cancer Awareness Month Campaign here today.

Earlier, HSA director Dr Sal Atan was reported to have said that the Green Zone of the hospital's JKT would be temporarily closed on Jan 17 to accommodate the increased number of patients in the Yellow Zone and Red Zone.

She, however, said that services in the Green Zone resumed at 5 pm that same day, although a notice stated that it would be closed from 2 pm to 9 pm.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad recently said that overcrowding at the hospital's JKT would be reduced and that the closure of the Green Zone was a mechanism of the MOH to reduce waiting time at the JKT.

-- BERNAMA

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