First Aid in Malaysia: In a Critical Condition?

I’m reproducing part of an email that was circulated written by a friend that I find dire and appalling. Is the life saving support system really that bad?

Apparently some kid died after not getting proper treatment from “paramedics” at a sports event: justiceforgaryrobert.webs.com/therealstory.htm

As Andrew and I know very well from first hand experience in an accident (for me I have experienced two accidents where I have helped), emergency medical care in Malaysia is deadly slow and untrained. Don’t hold your breath if you’re waiting for those trained paramedics you see on Rescue 911 to arrive in case of any accident anywhere. Don’t even dare to call those people who attended to Gary Robert paramedics, because paramedics they are not!

When I was in the KL marathon, I kinda wasn’t able to walk after the race for quite a long time. I thus went to the medical tent to rest, but the medical personnel did not

1. do a primary assessment at all of the intial check up, monitor my vital signs and ask about SAMPLE history, which is standard practice in first aid.
2. establish whether I was okay before letting me go. No vital sign checks or monitoring done whatsoever.

Now, I have underwent significant first aid training by the American Red Cross as a First Responder, and have had first aid training during my UWC days internally in the school and also through the Wilderness Medicine Institute and New Mexico Search and Rescue, and I can tell you for certain that the above steps, are what you would do in any kind of first aid situation. If the organizers of the Adidas KL Marathon and their medical affiliates did not perform the above steps then I would say they are not giving proper emergency medical care, which I would consider as negligence on their part.

See this report by the Overseas Security Advisory Council of the US Government.

Medical Emergencies

Kuala Lumpur has modern facilities that are almost comparable, in terms of quality of care, to those in the U.S. In an emergency, it is recommended the victim be transported immediately to a hospital. The two recommended hospitals in the KL are:

Prince Court Medical Center: 03-4255-2717, at the corner of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Kia Peng

Gleneagles Intan Medical Center: 2160-6000, 282 Jalan Ampang

Local emergency services are unreliable and the staff is not trained to U.S. standards. However, if ambulance transport is required, two recommended services are:

St. John Ambulance: 03-4257-8726

Red Crescent Ambulance: 03-9285-5294

SO just so you know, you should never get into any serious traffic accident in Malaysia, because you will probably DIE. I’m not kidding. BUCKLE UP GUYS, the situation in Malaysia is dire. YOU WILL DIE IN CASE OF A SERIOUS ACCIDENT IN MALAYSIA because:

1. Help is slow to arrive
2. Bystanders do not know how to call the ambulance and may instead aggravate your injury (esp. head & spinal injuries) by moving you
3. Help is untrained (the ambulance that arrived in our accident had one driver and one person behind and they didn’t even assess the situation and check vital signs on arrival!!! and also they didn’t know how to move the patient and stabilize their spine)
4. Ambulances don’t have the necessary equipment or maintenance. Many ambulances have been involved in accidents cos of blown tires or what not

So to avoid sounding totally negative without giving any helpful responses about this.

1. I think this Gary thing is an issue. Even though you know you signed an indemnity form and everything, I think it should be the duty of the organizers to provide basic first aid medical care. Primary first aid skills are very inadequate in Malaysia and if the above steps and assessment did not take place and they released him, I think that should be negligence, and they should get sued. Tho I think many people should sue many things in Malaysia cos everyone is so negligent.
2. In case of road accidents, here is the least you could do, even if you don’t know first aid.
   1. Take note of how many victims there are and (if you can, how severe their injuries are) and CALL AN AMBULANCE. This is the most basic step, yet is one which people fail to do. Don’t wait and ask if others have called, if someone says “sudah panggil” but no one can tell you the exact person who made that call, that call probably has not been done. So save these numbers NOW. You never know when you might need it.

      St. John Ambulance: 03-4257-8726

      Red Crescent Ambulance: 03-9285-5294

   2. Please don’t move the patient, unless the situation is life threatening, e.g. the car going to blow up or something. If they have a head or spinal injury, the situation could be very severe and you could paralyze them or injure them for life. Also, if you’re not a trained first aider, they could sue you later on. IN Malaysia’s case, even if you are a trained first aider, we do NOT have basic good Samaritan laws to protect first aiders.
3. Learn first aid yourself from a professional organization (not talking about scouts or things liek that). Seriously, if you live in Malaysia, you might be saving your own life or someone else’s life, cos you’ll be better trained than most of the ambulance people out there.
4. Push for politicians and corporations to take note of the lack of standardized and well trained emergency medical services system in the country.
5. Be more aware of the legal avenues. You need to hold businesses and organizations accountable for their actions (or lack thereof). Don’t let situations like these perpetuate forever. Someone must be held responsible!

—
Ng Eng Han