STAFF at Sungai Buloh Hospital have come together in a documentary to speak about how the hospital and its frontliners handled the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

Hospital director Dr Kuldip Kaur Prem Singh said when the virus hit the country, it was a steep learning curve for the hospital and its staff.

“Our hospital crisis preparedness and response centre took physical form on March 9, where all vital information and statistics were collated for research and relayed to the relevant authorities,” Kuldip said in the 17½-minute documentary.

“Being a new pandemic, it was a new steep learning curve for us. We kept learning and improving along the way.

“I knew without the support of all my heads of department at the helm, this was not going to be possible,” she said.

In March, Sungai Buloh Hospital became the main infectious disease centre for treating Covid-19 patients.

Sungai Buloh’s head of the Medical Department and infectious disease consultant Dr Suresh Kumar said when the hospital heard about the Covid-19 outbreak in China, preparations were immediately made in case of an infection in the country.

“We were quite prepared for Covid-19 when we heard about the outbreak in China. We emptied one side of the ward which is all single and double rooms. We had an infrastructure that was very good,” he said.

“We had a main block, another old hospital which is called National Leprosy Control Centre and next to it we also had a nurse training hostel called Ministry of Health Training Institute Sungai Buloh. So, based on this, we had three different facilities available under one roof,” he said.

Malaysia is one of a few countries whose early hospitalisation and stringent epidemic control measures have kept Covid-19 infections and deaths relatively low. 

“We were given the opportunity to use a very huge negative pressure tent, which is heavily being used to do the training of the staff and to resuscitate all the unstable, intubated, possible Covid-19 patients that our team retrieved from other Selangor and Klang Valley hospitals,” said Dr Siti Suhaila Hamzah, Head of Emergency and Trauma Department

The hospital transported unstable and intubated Covid-19 patients from other hospitals in Klang Valley using their Isopod team, Siti Suhaila said.

The emergency department command-and-control center held the fort in coordinating and ensuring staff and patient safety.

“Being the frontliner and important people that hold the gates of infectious diseases in the hospital, I have to agree and cannot deny that my staff were overwhelmed with mixed feelings, fear, anxiety, and also the uncertainty whether we were able to do it or not,” she said.

Facing an unseen and unknown enemy, Sungai Buloh pulled out all the stops in providing extensive training and awareness programmes for hospital staff.

The hospital’s chief nursing superintendent Matron Lai Yik Yin said nurses were trained how to put on and take off personal protective equipment  by the infection control before their placement in Covid-19 wards.

“Training was also conducted on a large scale and included infection control nurses until 100% of all nurses have been trained in donning and doffing including PAPR training for critical care areas,” Lai said.

During this battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, the hospital had to go above and beyond itself to meet the rising demands like never before.

The country also saw an outpouring of generosity by Malaysians, civil society groups, and international bodies in aiding hospitals with not just equipment, but also food and drink. 

“The outpouring of generosity by fellow Malaysians and international bodies, with the aid of support services, volunteers and supplies was our saving grace and was greatly appreciated,” the video said.

Sg Buloh’s infectious diseases consultant Dr Benedict Sim Lim Hen said it was impossible to forget the goodwill shown by people from all walks of life.

“There were ex-patients, family members, NGOs, well-wishers, donors, international bodies, governments, they all chipped in to donate many things that were deemed as helpful or essential in the wards,” he said.

The documentary was produced by the Sungai Buloh Hospital in collaboration with the Health Education Division of the Health Ministry.

To date, Malaysia has recorded 9,317 Covid-19 cases.

The government has extended its recovery movement-control order (RMCO) until December 31 to continue curbing the spread of the virus. – August 30, 2020.