Covid rules for hospital patients questioned

Former lawmaker Sulu Sou has posted on his social media page a letter from a fellow user complaining about Macau’s overemphasis on a single disease.

The writer complained that an elderly member of their family was asked by the public hospital to take two SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RATs) before being granted entry to the hospital building.

The family member was attending the hospital due to some health conditions.

In the letter, the writer recalled that their family member had an appointment at the public hospital in June. After the first cases in this wave of Covid-19 were detected on June 18, the outpatient appointment was cancelled and no confirmed rebooking was available.

The original appointment was reportedly for a medical consultation to decide whether an operation or non-invasive treatments were preferred.

“It seems that there is only [one] disease worthy of concern in Macau,” the writer complained.

The writer pre-empted questions about why the family did not transfer the patient to a private hospital, explaining that, firstly, they did not consider it feasible or appropriate to request surgery at a private hospital, considering the patient’s old age. Secondly, although the family could afford the estimated medical fees at private hospitals, the patient did not wish to spend a large amount of money.

About a month after the outpatient appointment was cancelled, the patient suddenly began vomiting constantly at home and had a strange feeling in the abdominal area. The patient was rushed to the public hospital by their family.

At the entrance, they were asked to present health codes with RAT results issued on the same day. After entering the hospital, another RAT was conducted on the patient before he was triaged.

The writer questioned why patients needed to face this obstacle when they were already feeling ill.

The patient was sent to the observation ward until nightfall, with family not permitted to enter. The patient reported that there were more elderly than young people in the ward, but all were required to wear KN95 masks for as long as eight hours.

Based on this experience, the writer wondered whether any patients had seen their illnesses deteriorate due to deferred outpatient consultations. The writer asked that the government release data in this respect.

In addition, the writer also doubted the acceptability of asking those already feeling ill to wear KN95 masks during long waits at hospitals.