KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is investigating reports that one patient died and another was certified brain dead in two separate wards at a Klang Valley hospital owing to ventilator failure.
Its director-general Datuk Dr. Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan said he would shed more light on the issue and provide further clarification once the investigation is completed.
"We have yet to receive any official report on such cases in Malaysia. Nonetheless, we take the allegations (in the news report) by a news portal seriously.
"The case is currently under investigation, and the ministry is actively seeking more information on the matter," he said when contacted by the New Straits Times today.
Earlier, a local news portal, quoting sources, reported that within a week in two separate wards at a Klang Valley hospital, one patient died while another was declared brain dead, allegedly due to ventilator failure.
According to the sources, medical staff attempted to resuscitate an unconscious patient and discovered that the ventilator had failed.
The sources also claimed two more cases were linked to ventilator failure.
In one instance, a patient was reportedly revived after the medical team performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), while the condition of the other patient had yet to be confirmed.
An internal investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the ventilator failures.