DOUGLAS Uggah Embas has urged the Health Ministry to investigate the doctor who attended to Sarawak’s 19th rabies victim, who died last night.

The deputy chief minister said it must be established whether the doctor had failed to follow the standard operating procedure for treating dog bites, in view of an outbreak of the disease in the state.

The doctor is accused of not reporting and referring the victim, a 61-year-old woman from Pending, Kuching, to the rabies clinic. The patient died at 10.47pm while undergoing treatment at Sarawak General Hospital.

The Institute of Medical Research confirmed that the woman had contracted rabies after being reportedly bitten on the right thumb by a “wild dog” on April 29.

Uggah, who also chairs the state Disaster Management Committee, said if the doctor is proven to have breached the SOP, it would be the second case where a medical professional failed to refer a dog bite patient to the rabies clinic.

“Negligence is very serious and should not happen. It is imperative for doctors to adhere to the SOP,” he said in a statement today.

The Health Ministry, confirming the death earlier today, said the doctor had failed to immediately send the patient to the rabies clinic.

It said the patient sought treatment at a government-run community clinic, where she was attended to by the doctor.

She was then asked to return after a week for follow-up treatment, which she did not do, thinking the wound had healed.

On June 6, she experienced pain in the right arm, and was admitted to Sarawak General Hospital two days later. The next day, she experienced nausea, dizziness, difficulty swallowing, headaches and weakness, among other symptoms.

Since Sarawak declared a rabies epidemic on July 1, 2017, 18 of the 19 people confirmed to have contracted the disease have died.

The sole survivor is a teen, who is reportedly brain dead.

Three rabies cases were reported this year. – June 13, 2019.