Patients And Others Feel The Heat In KB Hospital
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Kuala Belait - The central air-condition system at the Suri Seri Begawan Hospital in Kuala Belait may have been switched off for the last few days to accommodate a person being kept under surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The Borneo Bulletin yesterday received a call from someone who visited his relative being warded at the hospital complaining that the air-conditioning of the hospital had broken down.

The breakdown, he said had caused patients and visitors to lose their cool and made them feel a little hot under the collar. Some relatives brought their own fans to cool off their warded families.

They said when they confronted the staff and nurses at the hospital they were told that the air-conditioning system have been breaking down frequently since October 2002.

When the Borneo Bulletin checked with a hospital source, he said the air-conditioning had been repaired.

"It is true that air-conditioning broke down last October. It was not repaired until a few weeks ago because when it broke down, the hospital could not accommodate the repair in the annual budget.

Meanwhile, another source said the air-conditioning could have been purposely switched off to accommodate a suspected patient being quarantined at a special SARS ward.

"Since the system is centralized, the hospital may not want to take any risks because the virus could be spread via the cooling system," he said.  -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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