By Odette Loney Sunday, October 25 2009

FRUSTRATED San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) patients who turned up for precautionary swine flu testing yesterday said they had to wait too long to be seen by doctors.

About 20 persons slumped on white folding chairs outside SFGH Ambulance Bay, awaiting a doctor to conduct tests for swine flu, otherwise known as Influenza A/H1N1, but patients told Newsday that some of them arrived since 4 am and were still unable to see a doctor when Newsday visited at 12 noon yesterday.

“There seems to be a shortage of doctors and one told us that he had to attend to patients in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) who were on respirators,” said one man who sat outside one of the two white testing tents at the hospital.

Patients complained that children should be seen first, but this was not the case and those with children had to sit outside with everyone else and received no special treatment.

Again ambulances docked at the Emergency Department as the Ambulance Bay was cordoned off to traffic to accommodate patients as they appeared wearing face masks.

Sources at South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) said that there were at least 20 mild cases of swine flu in the hospital and to date the Ministry of Health said that four persons already died from the disease and there are 163 cases overall in the country.

Head of the Anaesthesiology Department of SFGH, Anand Chattergoon said that the situation was under control in the Intensive Care Unit, which has no new cases of swine flu.

“We have one lady under query in the HDU department but nothing is confirmed as yet,” said Chattergoon.

He sympathized with the plight of patients who sat for hours awaiting a doctor outside the Ambulance Bay area, which was not under his control.