Singapore's KKH files police report over woman's 'incorrect' claim that she waited four hours for treatment and lost baby

The woman claimed that she arrived at KKH at 2pm to seek treatment but was told to wait at the drop-off area. - The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE, March 25 (The Straits Times/ANN): KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) has made a police report over an "incorrect" claim made by a pregnant woman, who said she had to wait for four hours to be treated for abdominal pains at the hospital and eventually lost her baby.

Prof Alex Sia, chief executive officer of KKH, said in a statement on Friday (March 25): "KKH would like to clarify that the online report on the incident at the Urgent Obstetrics and Gynaecology Centre (UOGC) is incorrect."

Prof Sia added that there were discrepancies between the story and the bill information shared online.

"We can definitively say that there is no such scenario. We have since made a police report," he said.

The woman's description of the incident in February has been making the rounds on social media.

She claimed that she arrived at KKH at 2pm to seek treatment but was told to wait at the drop-off area.

She said that at 5pm, she started to bleed but was still not attended to.

When a doctor eventually saw her at 6pm, she said she was told that she had lost her baby.

Prof Sia said this is a crucial time for everyone in healthcare and the hospital will continue to do its best to take care of its patients.

He said: "Every feedback is an opportunity to do better and we take it seriously, but when there are falsehoods, we must also address them transparently.

"We thank the public for their support, and allowing us time to investigate the incident."

Alternative news site Wake Up, Singapore, which first published the woman’s claims, issued an apology on Friday afternoon (March 25).

In a Facebook post, Wake Up, Singapore wrote: “We have just learnt that we were lied to at every turn, and the documents sent to us were doctored. We apologise to KKH and all our readers.”

News of this alleged incident follows a separate case where a 36-week pregnant woman who was bleeding had to wait at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) emergency department (ED) for two hours and later lost her baby.

NUH apologised on Wednesday night and said in a statement that it should have done more to provide closer monitoring and care to the woman during the March 15 incident.

The hospital added it is reviewing its process of managing expectant patients admitted into the ED so that such incidents do not happen again. - The Straits Times/ANN