The son of a dialysis patient took to MOH’s Facebook to query why his mom was driven pillar to post between MOH and NKF after her ART positive test.
A Facebook user asked the Ministry of Health (MOH) on its Facebook post why arrangements were not made for his mother, a dialysis patient, after she tested positive on the Antigen Rapid Test (ART Test). According to the Facebook user, his mother went to Punggol Polyclinic on 18 February but was sent home to do home recovery. The Polyclinic informed her that MOH will make arrangements for her to have a separate dialysis session the next day.
But the woman did not receive any calls from MOH the next day to schedule her dialysis session. She waited for the call till 10pm, but nothing came. When the son called the MOH hotline, he was told that they were not aware of any such arrangements. When he tried calling the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), they told him that they had forwarded his mother to MOH.
Noting that his mom will be missing her dialysis treatment, he asked who will take responsibility if something were to happen to his mother as a result of the missed dialysis treatment. He asked who was responsible for such rescheduling of treatment for Covid-19 positive dialysis patients.
The Facebook user updated on Sunday, past noon, that MOH eventually called and that they will be sending her to a designated dialysis centre at Corporation Road before 1pm on that day. He suggested that another option available to those that are caught in a similar situation is to walk-in to any public hospital’s Accidents & Emergency (A&E) department.
Another Facebook user took to the same post to recount how his 81-year-old mother had an almost similar experience and how he took her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s A&E department, after which she was admitted to the hospital for treatment.
National Kidney Foundation says on its website that high-risk patients, such as those on dialysis, may be at higher risk for severe disease from COVID-19, and that for severe cases, recovery may take 6 weeks or more. About 1 per cent of those infected will die from the disease.
MOH advises that low-risk individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 but are feeling well can recover at home and do not need to see a doctor.