SINGAPORE – The National University Hospital (NUH) has clarified its procedures for hospital admissions in response to a Facebook video and post alleging that its staff ignored a pregnant woman in a wheelchair for 7 minutes.

NUH said that as part of its processes, the screening staff member had to obtain information on the patient and her condition before he could call the delivery suite to arrange for admission. It added that the woman was transferred to the delivery suite 4 minutes after she arrived at the Emergency Medicine Department (EMD).

“We acknowledge that our staff could have shown more empathy and have since reached out to the patient and her husband to apologise for their experience,” the hospital added.

The video, posted by Facebook user Preet Sandhu on Sunday (Nov 4), shows a pregnant woman in a wheelchair holding her belly in pain.

A male staff member is seen at a counter attending to another person in a queue. At one point, a female porter turns to the man and speaks to him. He replies and, after some moments, the porter wheels the woman away.

Another woman can also be heard chiding the male staff member at the counter. Facebook user Preet Sandhu said that the hospital employee was “rude” and had a “don’t-care attitude”.

The video has since gained 83,000 views and has been shared over 2,200 times.

In a Facebook post on Monday night, NUH said it was aware of the video: “The hospital views this matter seriously and we have looked into it.

“Based on our closed-circuit television records, our patient was transferred to the delivery suite 4 minutes on arrival to our EMD on Sunday.”

NUH said that the woman arrived at the EMD at 11.16am and took a seat outside the department while her husband approached the screening counter at the entrance.

A porter wheeled the woman into the EMD at 11.18am and at 11.20am, she was transferred to the delivery suite.

The hospital said that the woman delivered on Sunday evening and both mother and child are doing well.

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