Public hospitals gearing up for possible H1N1 surge

Public hospitals gearing up for possible H1N1 surge
By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 19 June 2009 2144 hrs

SINGAPORE: Public hospitals in Singapore are gearing up to take in H1N1 patients.

Currently, H1N1 cases are only seen at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Communicable Disease Centre and the KK Women's and Children's Hospital's paediatric unit.

But if Singapore moves from the containment to mitigation stage, once there is sustained community transmission, it is very likely that restructured hospitals will have to be roped in to manage H1N1 cases.

The National University Hospital (NUH) told Channel NewsAsia that it has been preparing for a possible surge since the first alert from the Health Ministry about two months ago.

Its spokesperson said measures it has prepared to take include postponing non-urgent elective surgeries to create surge capacity, equipping and converting some beds to create more isolation rooms, expanding a fever facility at the Accident and Emergency department and deploying more staff.

More staff will be deployed to A&E to cope with the increased workload once the fever facility is expanded, for example, to perform nasal swabs and provide explanations to patients and their families.

Posters and materials to educate and remind staff, patients and visitors on the importance of hand hygiene and Personal Protection Equipment will also be put up.

Over at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), staff are also prepared to manage and treat H1N1 patients.

SGH said its response preparedness was ramped up and put in place since the initial stages of the global outbreak.

The hospital has also set aside adequate isolation and intensive care facilities to manage the increase in H1N1 cases, especially in light of potential community spread.

- CNA/i

- wong chee tat :)