KUALA LUMPUR: BRING your own fans. Sadly, this is what patients at Serdang Hospital have been advised to do for over a month.
Air-conditioning failure at the hospital means that fans from home are essential for patients to keep their cool, literally, though even this has failed to do so at times.
AIR-COND FAILURE: Serdang Hospital patients put up with stuffy wards
Patients and visitors interviewed by the New Straits Times complained of the heat in the afternoon and poor ventilation throughout the day.
A patient, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hospital management had told her to bring a fan when she was admitted for high fever.
"We were shocked when the nurse told us to bring a fan.
"When we asked why, she told us the hospital was facing technical problems with the air-conditioning."
The patient, in her 40s, added that the ward would get stuffy in the afternoon.
"It is very difficult for us to get a good rest because we sweat profusely all the time."
Another patient said her daughter's dental surgery, which was scheduled in early March, was postponed to last Monday due to the air-conditioning breakdown.
Meanwhile, a security guard claimed that the hospital had been facing the problem since a transformer at a Tenaga Nasional Bhd power station in Bandar Baru Bangi exploded in March.
"The hospital had also suffered a blackout when the transformer exploded," he said, adding that the air-conditioning system stopped functioning efficiently ever since.
He added that only specific areas such as the intensive care unit and operation theatre were air-conditioned.
It is learnt that the general wards only receive air-conditioning at night when surgery rooms are not in use.
This is not the first time the hospital had been in the news for the wrong reasons.
It was reported in January last year that the hospital's main lobby collapsed following a downpour.
The hospital, which was built on the concept of "hospital of the future", started operating on Dec 15, 2005.
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