Residents in Singapore, Malaysia Flock Hospitals, Clinics for Rising Number of Illnesses, Ailments Due to Smog

As the fires devouring the forests in Sumatra island continued to burn, the number of visits to medical institutions in both smog-embattled Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia's next door neighbors, have likewise escalated.

In Dumai, a city located right smack where the ranging fires were in Riau province, hospital staff are labouring 24/7 with the number of haze-related illnesses that have doubled in the past week. Many of the patients complain of asthma and pneumonia.

Singapore polyclinics have likewise reported attending to 3,853 cases last week alone, a jump of 16.5 per cent from the previous week when the haze was at its darkest in the island nation, the Straits Times said.

"I have a lot of trouble breathing when I walk around. And when I try to swallow, my throat really hurts," patient Sarno Resopawiro from Dumai told Channel News Asia.

Most of the cases being attended in Singapore were related to asthma, conjunctivitis, upper respiratory tract infection and bronchitis.

"My cough usually goes away in two or three days with medicine, but it persisted due to the haze," 35-year old administrative assistant Rohana Mohamed Yusof said.

Kota Dumai Hospital, which treats about 300 patients in a month, has met that monthly record in just the past week. Hospital authorities believe the number won't settle at that mark, and they expect it to rise further, forecasting it could triple later on.

"The haze in the past few days has been increasing with an average PSI of 700. If this keeps going on for the next one to two weeks, it will become very hazardous and the number of patients will increase," H Syaiful, the director of Kota Dumai Hospital, said.

PSI readings in Dumai had actually hit the dangerous level of 900.

"The situation in Dumai is the worst in 10 years, this is the first time it has reached 900 PSI. It has never happened before and it has reached hazardous levels in the past few days. In the past week, the number of haze patients has doubled," Marjoko Santoso, chief of the Dumai Health Authority (DINAS), said.

In Singapore, the federal government continued to give subsidised treatment for haze-related illnesses. Residents aged either 18 and below, or 65 and above, as well as those on public assistance, can see a general practitioner for haze-related conditions for just $10.

Read:

Indonesia Humbles Itself Before Singapore, Malaysia, Says Sorry For The Smoke Haze Caused By Raging Forest Fires

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