A government clinic in Lahad Datu is quietly gaining a reputation with its high-tech facilities and online service.
LAHAD DATU: It is just an old health clinic tucked away in the vast Lahad Datu region. But step in and a vast array of high-tech facilities will greet a patient. Better still, there is no long queue to see a doctor.
For all appointments are made online. Just tap the keys on your computer at home to register your name and you will be assigned a room to see your doctor at the clinic.
In Sabah where medical and health services have come under severe attack recently, the last thing one would expect to see is a clinic complete with laboratory, pharmacy and physiotherapy units.
Outside this health clinic is a white banner carrying its message: "i-Daftar, sistem temujanji online – Segalanya di hujung jari anda" (i-Daftar, register appointments online – everything at your fingertips).
That's how the health clinic here is promoting its online doctor's appointments.
Welcome to Lahad Datu Klinik Kesihatan, a hidden sprawling patient-centric unofficial mini-hospital proudly declaring its ISO 9001 status.
The doctors and medical services are all housed inside the 60-year-old building which does not appear to have seen a coat of paint for decades.
The clinic, which began in 2002, is not a hospital, although patients often mistake it for one given its facilities.
No major advertising campaigns here, just a lot of word-of-mouth recommendations by the locals, the occasional banners and the staff's goodwill hype on social media Facebook .
Lahad Datu is a good three-and-half hour drive from Tawau, the main hub on the east coast stretch of Sabah. It's not quite where one would expect such "high-tech" facility given the fact that Sabah has a low Internet penetration rate.
I-Daftar is a service whereby patients can go online and make appointments to see resident doctors, without the hassle of queuing up and waiting.
There are nine health centres in Lahad Datu catering to a wide cross-section of people, which includes Sabah's perennial headache – immigrants.
Lahad Datu is a famed entry point for immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia.
It is also rumoured to be a hot spot for vice, militant activities, kidnappings and hijackings.
Cutting wait time
According to Lahad Datu clinical administrator and health officer, Dr S Dhesi Baharaja, the newly introduced online system to register appointments has reduced the waiting time for patients.
"This was our main priority when we embarked on this project.
"We see more than 980 patients a day. Before we introduced i-Daftar, patients had to wait 15 to 20 minutes to see the doctor, sometimes longer.
"But now, they wait for seven minutes or less," he said, adding that reducing the waiting time was one of the Health Ministry's KPI (Key Performance Index) for hospitals and clinics.
Describing the process of making a doctor's appointment online, Dhesi said: "It's like an AirAsia booking.
"You can choose your date and time and even the treatment room. We have four treatment rooms.
"When checking online patients, we can see which treatment rooms are busy and which ones are not.
"It's all simple. There is no queuing. The process takes less than a minute to fix an appointment.
"The system is available for outpatients and mother and child unit," he said, claiming that the system is the first in Sabah and in the country.
Fewer default cases
Introduced in June 2011, i-Daftar, according to Dhesi, has caught on quickly despite initial fears that the service was too "high-tech" for a place like Lahad Datu, which is also home to the rolling savannah-styled Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) and the panoramic Felda Sahabat scheme.
"We're seeing fewer default cases. And for us that's a very good sign.
"In the past we had patients who were constantly defaulting on their follow-ups and it affected their health, especially patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension.
"When they finally come back for an appointment, their health has deteriorated and we now need to deal with other medical problems which could have been avoided in the first place.
"These are the cases that we are most concerned about.
"Our past records show a high rate of default on follow-up appointments by patients.
"But since introducing the online system, we have seen an improvement in patients meeting their appointments.
"And even if they decide to change the appointments due to some other commitments, they can still do this without any hassle," he said, adding that patients are now better managing the medications.
The changes have brought about a renewed respect for the clinic's services.
These days, there's little rumbling of discontent from patients waiting their turn.
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