MIRI: A woman suspected of contracting the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus’ (MERS-CoV) after a trip to Mecca last month was believed taken away from Miri Hospital by her family members on Friday night – a few hours after admission.
A hospital staff lodged a police report on her disappearance at the Miri Central Police Station (CPS) at about 4 pm yesterday.
According to the report, the patient was admitted to Miri Hospital at 9.05am on Friday, and at 3.10pm, the family requested for her discharge, which was denied by the hospital.
Apparently the reason for their request was to send her to the government hospital in Brunei.
However, at 4.35pm, a doctor at Miri Hospital received a call from the Brunei hospital saying that it would not receive the patient.
This upset the family, and against the hospital’s order, they allegedly took the patient away at 7.12pm.
In confirming the case yesterday, Miri Hospital director Dr Jack Wong assured the public that there was no cause for panic as the patient was only suspected of suffering from the disease.
“Miri never has any record of MERS-CoV all this while,” he told thesundaypost when contacted yesterday.
Dr Wong said since it was now a police case, it was up to the police to locate the patient and bring her back to the hospital.
“On our side, we would look into her condition and provide treatment if there is a need to,” he said.
Dr Wong advised anyone coming back from travelling overseas to go for a medical checkup if they had fever or cough.
“MERS-CoV is a Middle East disease and it is contagious and dangerous. If there is any symptom, go for a medical checkup immediately,” he advised further.