KUCHING, April 21: Long waiting times at the Tanah Puteh health clinic here over the past two weeks beginning early April is due to the recent upgrading of the Electronic Medical Record System (EMR).
Sarawak Health Department (JKNS) director Dr Ooi Choo Huck said the previous Teleprimary Care System (TPC) is being enhanced to the Teleprimary Care-Oral Health Clinical Information System (TPC-OHCIS).
He said operations would return to normal once all the patient records are transferred into the new system.
Dr Ooi was responding to several media reports published between April 15 and 16 regarding the issue of patients having to endure long waits to get treatment or having their appointments rescheduled.
Touching on the issue of traffic congestion and complaints about unsatisfactory public facilities at the clinic, he said JKNS has taken several measures over the years to improve the situation.
“Among which included the establishment of Tabuan Jaya Community Clinic (KKOM) in 2012; construction of the Petra Jaya health clinic in 2011; construction of the Tabuan Jaya health clinic (Type 2) which is expected to be completed on June 7, 2024; and the upgrade of the Bintawa Mother and Child health clinic (KKIA) which is scheduled to start operating on June 1, 2022,” he said in a statement today.
He added that the set up of the Petra Jaya health clinic and KKOM Tabuan Jaya has reduced the number of patient visits at Tanah Puteh health clinic from 600 to 700 people per day to between 320 to 360 people a day.
When the Tabuan Jaya health clinic (Type 2) starts to operate, he said the current number of patients at Tanah Puteh health clinic is expected to be further reduced by at least 40 per cent.
“Although the Ministry of Health (MOH) faces constraints to expand the structure of the Tanah Puteh health clinic, several improvements have been made including the addition of buildings for mother and child services, laboratory and pharmacy services.
“Improvements to the internal layout of Tanah Puteh health clinic have also been implemented several times to ensure that the available space can be fully utilised for the comfort of waiting customers,” said Dr Ooi.
He thus urged all parties to continue to work together and accept the initiatives implemented by JKNS to avoid any difficulties. — DayakDaily
