KKH investigating pregnant woman's claim she had to wait four hours to be treated and lost her baby
KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) is looking into a pregnant woman's claim that she waited for four hours to be treated for abdominal pains at the hospital and eventually lost her baby.
Prof Tan Hak Koon, chairman of the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) at KKH, told The Straits Times on Thursday (March 24) that the hospital is aware of an online account of the incident at its Urgent O&G Centre.
"We take patient feedback seriously, and are looking into this," added Prof Tan.
The woman's claims about the February 28 incident has been making its rounds on social media.
She said she was 20 weeks pregnant at the time, and had tested positive for Covid-19 and tried to get treatment at two private hospitals after experiencing severe abdominal pains.
She claimed she was denied treatment at both hospitals, which were not named, as she needed to be attended to by an infectious diseases gynaecologist because she had tested positive for Covid-19.
The woman subsequently arrived at KKH at 2pm to seek treatment but was told to wait at the drop-off area.
She said that at 5pm, she started to bleed but she was still not attended to.
When a doctor eventually saw her at 6pm, she said she was told that she had lost her baby.
KKH is urging the patient to contact them at feedback@kkh.com.sg
Said Prof Tan: "Despite our best efforts, we are still unable to identify the patient based on the information that is publicly available.
"We are concerned about the patient's well-being and seek the opportunity to address her concerns, and provide the necessary support."
News of this alleged incident follows a separate case where a 36-week pregnant woman who was bleeding had to wait at the National University Hospital's (NUH) emergency department (ED) for two hours and later lost her baby.
In its statement on Wednesday night (March 23), NUH apologised and said it should have done more to provide closer monitoring and care to the woman during the March 15 incident.
The hospital said it is reviewing its process of managing expectant patients admitted into the ED so that such incidents do not happen again.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now