SINGAPORE, March 24— KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) is appealing for a patient, who claimed to have lost her baby while waiting at the hospital’s urgent obstetrics and gynaecology centre for four hours, to reach out to the hospital directly, a spokesperson said today.
In an account of the incident that made the rounds on social media on Wednesday, the expectant mother alleged that she was bleeding profusely while waiting at the drop-off point outside the hospital.
Responding to TODAY’s queries, KKH’s chairman of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology division Professor Tan Hak Koon said the hospital was aware of an online report of the incident, but was unable to identify who the patient is.
“We take patient feedback seriously, and are looking into this,” said Prof Tan.
“Despite our best efforts, we are still unable to identify the patient based on the information that is publicly available,” he added.
“We are concerned about the patient’s well-being and seek the opportunity to address her concerns, and provide the necessary support.”
Details of the incident were first published in a first-person account by the patient on alternative news website Wake Up, Singapore on Wednesday.
Her identity was not revealed, though a copy of the hospital’s bill posted on the website said the hospital visit occurred on Feb 28.
According to the article, the expectant mother, who was 20-weeks pregnant at the time, had tested positive for Covid-19 through an antigen rapid test sometime in February. She was allegedly suffering from several Covid-19 symptoms and severe abdominal pains.
The woman claimed she first went to her registered hospital in the morning, but was denied treatment as she had Covid-19. She was later informed that she needed to see an “Infectious Disease Gynae” that was “apparently only available at KKH”.
The woman claimed that she tried visiting another private hospital but was denied treatment so she “had no choice but to head to KKH”.
Both hospitals were not identified in the article.
After reaching KKH at around 2pm, the woman claimed she was denied treatment. She was instructed to wait at the drop-off area at the hospital after she and her husband pleaded with the hospital, the article said.
The couple waited for four hours before a doctor attended to her. She claimed to have suffered a miscarriage in that time.
Prof Tan said the hospital has written to Wake Up, Singapore to ask that it shares the patient’s name in full, but it replied to say it has asked the patient to contact KKH directly.
The hospital told TODAY that it has not heard from the patient, and is appealing to the patient to contact it at [email protected].
This comes after a similar incident of an expectant mother who lost her baby at the National University Hospital (NUH) after she was left unattended at its accident and emergency department for around two hours on March 15.
During this period, the couple was not informed that there was no bed in the maternity ward and no doctors or nurses came to check on her condition.
NUH has since apologised to the couple, as well as publicly stating that the woman’s two-hour wait at its emergency unit “should not have been the case”. — TODAY