SOP for hospitals in final stage of review

The Health Ministry is in the final stage of a review of the standard operating procedure (SOP) in hospitals under its jurisdiction to better serve the people, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said the ministry proposed to issue the pertinent guidelines at the end of this year.

"We also encourage the participation of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), hospitals under the jurisdiction of the Higher Education Ministry as well as private hospitals.

"This is to come up with a SOP for the operator, medical officers and support staff in every hospital," she said when replying to a supplementary question from Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai).

Nurul Izzah had wanted to know what measures the ministry had taken to set a SOP in hospitals following the disruption of electricity supply at UMMC recently.

Earlier, when replying to a question from Datuk Md Sirat Abu (BN-Bukit Katil) on complaints by patients having been denied treatment upon admission to hospitals on weekends, Rosnah said the matter could be referred to the medical officer or nurse on duty.

However, she said, patients were advised to lodge an official complaint with the hospital management if such a practice persisted so that an investigation could be conducted and appropriate action taken against the errant staff.

Rosnah admitted that the number of staff at hospitals on weekends was usually smaller than on weekdays.

Nevertheless, she said, it was never the practice at hospitals run by the ministry to deny treatment to patients until the new week began.

"It is the responsibility of medical officers, including specialists, to administer treatment to patients," she said.