The Ministry of Health (MoH) is taking interim action plans to address the lack of hospital beds at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital, Minister of Heath Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar said.

The minister also acknowledged that the MoH is aware of the challenges faced due to the lack of beds at RIPAS Hospital.

He said RIPAS Hospital has served as the nation’s main referral hospital at the tertiary level for the entire population of Brunei Darussalam since 1984.

“To ensure that the hospital continues to meet current and future demands, the ministry has identified and is implementing several interim action plans,” the minister said in response to a question by Legislative Council (LegCo) member Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Adanan bin Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Haji Mohd Yusof during the Second Meeting of the 21st LegCo Session on Saturday.

He said the measures are strengthening the patient discharge process with the process being updated to ensure a more efficient patient flow and to reduce pressure on bed occupancy.

“One challenge is patients who cannot be discharged due to non-medical reasons, such as families not being ready to bring the patient home,” the minister said.
“Patients who are medically fit to be discharged but continue to occupy beds is categorised as ‘long-stayers’. They will be transferred to the National Isolation Centre Extension to make available beds for new cases. This centre is being renovated to accommodate and meet the needs of long-stayers. In some cases, these patients are considered neglected or abandoned, and require social intervention and coordination with welfare agencies. As a short-term measure while awaiting for the completion of the RIPAS Hospital extension building under the 12th National Development Plan (RKN12), the ministry has implemented a decanting strategy for long-stayer patients,” he added.

The main objective of this initiative is to free up beds and increase bed capacity, especially for patients requiring urgent and intensive care.

“These patients will be gradually transferred to other suitable healthcare facilities such as Pengiran Muda Mahkota Pengiran Muda Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah Hospital, without compromising the hospital’s services,” Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said.

He also referred to updating Brunei Darussalam’s health system and infrastructure masterplan, whereby based on the previous plan, the ministry has undertaken a review to ensure it is more responsive and relevant to current needs.

“This includes upgrading existing facilities and implementing interim measures to improve the efficiency of health facility usage, especially at RIPAS Hospital.”

The minister said among the ministry’s initiatives in this area include strengthening infrastructure and facility development, which includes the construction of a new hospital block with a capacity of 500 beds with a BND120-million allocation under RKN12.

He said as a strategic measure to optimise space usage at RIPAS Hospital, “the ministry is also planning to relocate ophthalmology services to a more suitable location. This aims to reduce congestion and allow the current space to be repurposed for more critical services, especially acute cases.”

(News & pic source: Borneo Bulletin)