LETTERS: Malaysia has struggled with a severe lack of hospital beds, causing stress for patients and their loved ones.
My late father had to wait almost five hours in a hospital hallway because of a similar scenario in 2014.
We can learn from the experiences of other nations that have adopted hospital bed booking systems.
The Third Xiangya Hospital in Hunan, China, has implemented a Hospital Information System to merge its divisions into one database.
Due to this system's enhanced capacity to manage available beds, patients spend less time at the hospital.
A similar effort has been made to introduce a mobile-based application for bed management at Kuala Lumpur's Canselor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital, which would allow for real-time updates and more user mobility.
We need a solution that encompasses all healthcare institutions in Malaysia.
Achieving this goal would require the Health Ministry to spearhead the implementation of a unified hospital bed booking system in the country.
This would allow users to see where hospital beds are available in the nation.
If patients need immediate medical attention, but the facility of choice is unavailable, the system may recommend the closest facility with available beds.
Implementing such a system would drastically reduce patients' waiting time for beds, which may save lives.
Patients would benefit from seeing up-to-the-minute information on bed availability on digital billboards outside hospitals or on websites.
In addition, clinics should be the first point of contact for less urgent medical issues, and people should be encouraged to do so.
Instead of blaming institutions, we must work together to solve this problem of inadequate hospital beds.
In high-demand scenarios, like flu epidemics, restricted bed availability can be better managed with a centralised hospital bed booking system.
We have the knowledge and resources to create a system that will provide people with instant access to care when they need it.
NOR AZHAR AHMAD
Universiti Malaysia Pahang Sultan Abdullah
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times