By Ain Husna
Believe it or not, Malaysia has been praised and given attention by the foreign media on how Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, Health Director General and his team handled this outbreak until it has reached zero cases more than one time.
However, it seemed like our country has been cursed by this virus where in just a short time after receiving recognition from other countries, Malaysia’s surge in COVID-19 cases occurred.
At the beginning of the surge, the scale-up, broad testing, and aggressive contact tracing were done. Undeniably, the front liners spare no effort in ensuring the positive ones be quarantined and treated until they are puffing and blowing.
Months of turmoil have finally brought Malaysians to the glad tidings when the approval for private hospitals and clinics to conduct COVID-19 screening tests and treat positive patients have been done.
This is where Hospital Penawar began to take its place as one in the private sector which can be seen as the light at the end of the tunnel. They are known as a private community hospital in Pasir Gudang, Johor.
Formerly, the hospital-based, from a polyclinic it has been operating since 1992 until it became a private hospital that began operating in 1997, and served the residents of Pasir Gudang for the last 20 years.
Furthermore, to provide services to the public, the hospital synergises its services with Kumpulan Perubatan Penawar, the country’s leading primary health provider. A polyclinic chain known as ‘Poliklinik Penawar’ in Johor, it is run by Kumpulan Perubatan Penawar Sdn. Bhd.
They are committed to producing the best together in healthcare services to professional health care providers, capitalising on the combination of its owners’ tremendous knowledge and expertise.
The hospital is now preparing to help the company grow internationally to attract new segments of customers throughout the region.
Using Facebook the most and getting impressive feedback from the targeted community by boosting their weekly and yearly events for about 10 years is what they have done. Into the bargain, they also offered hospitality and clinical event services weekly with different themes of events with the specifically targeted community.
Following announcement by Malaysia’s Prime Minister on the movement control order (MCO) on 18 March last year as a preventive measure in response to this pandemic, many parties have been affected by this decision and the same goes to Hospital Penawar.
During the early stage of the pandemic, Hospital Penawar needs to cope with the number of employees they have to balance with the nonstop patients as well as the number of working hours that need to be readjusted.
Who said adapting process would be easier? Same thing goes to Hospital Penawar which is in the process of adapting to the new normal.
It is a must for Hospital Penawar to follow the standard operating procedures (SOP) introduced by the government to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.
In the fight against COVID-19, Hospital Penawar has to face challenges in making people or the public understand that the COVID-19 virus is not a joke. It is a serious problem that people need to be careful and aware of.
As we know, the expenses for the process of pre-entrance of anyone who has the symptoms of COVID-19 is high. Similarly as to what Hospital Penawar had to face as patients need to do swab test before they receive any service offered to them.
“The overall cost includes the price of the test kit and the cost of actually performing the test such as the devices, the technicians running the test kit, and their safety equipment,” says Dr. Anna Ong Lim of Healthcare Professional against COVID19.
On top of that, the procedure to do swab test is not easy as it requires adequate preparation, especially wearing the personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect the employees from being infected.
Despite the difficult situation, Hospital Penawar has always come up with its solution. “Every day is a new day”, it is what employees at that hospital hold onto as the stepping stone for them to build and improve their services day by day.
Teamwork is the key to handling and overcoming the issues since the last minute preparation will be quite tough for them when the number of patients comes in a mess.***
(This article is written as part of feature writing exercise for Corporate Writing class)