The Malaysian Insight

PUBLIC hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Labuan have exceeded their maximum capacity to treat Covid-19 patients, pushing the healthcare system to the brink of paralysis, the Health Ministry said today.

The average number of daily Covid-19 cases per 100,000 in the four states is more than 37, which is an average increase of 2.6% for the past week, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“The new daily cases reported showed no signs of reduction and cases even increased by an average of 2.6% over the past seven days.

“If this situation persists, the health system in those states will be paralysed and, in turn, a similar situation for the whole country is likely to occur,” he said in a statement this evening.

The current daily national average Covid-19 cases of 6,539 far surpasses the 4,000-daily threshold target set by the National Recovery Plan, Noor Hisham said.

“The threshold value of 4,000 new cases daily is set based on the hospital’s capacity to deal with unforeseen situations, the rate of admissions to the ward and the current discharge rate.

“The states that recorded the number of new cases exceeding the value of 12.2 cases per 100,000 population were Labuan, Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malacca, Putrajaya, Sarawak and Pahang,” he added.

Noor Hisham said the pattern of Covid-19 cases being admitted to the intensive care units (ICU) currently remains at a high level.

Furthermore, he said, there appears to be no significant decrease in cases since the 23rd epidemiology week, from June 6 to June 12, until today.

Presently, the total ICU bed occupancy rate is still higher than 90% and this contributes to “burnout” among frontline medical and health workers as they had to cope with high numbers of Covid-19 cases for a prolonged period of time.

Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry has taken steps to overcome this critical situation by converting some hospitals in the Klang Valley into full Covid-19 hospitals.

Examples of the converted hospitals are the Ampang hospital, Sungai Buloh hospital and the Children’s Specialist Hospital of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

The bed capacity of several hospitals – Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), Selayang Hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang Hospital (HTAR) – has also been increased so that they could be utilised as treatment centres for Category 4 and 5 patients.

The treatment of non-Covid-19 patients has also been outsourced to private hospitals, particularly those based near HKL and HTAR.

Noor Hisham said the ministry is also contemplating converting Hospital Shah Alam for the treatment of Covid-19 cases and repurpose regular ward beds for critically ill Covid-19 patients.

He added that the ministry will also expand the capacity of beds in Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres that are used to handle lower risk cases.

Currently Hospital Pengajar Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Hospital Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) are also being considered for Covid-19 patients. 

The ministry will form a collaboration with 112 private hospitals in the Klang Valley area to increase the number of available Covid-19 beds, Noor Hisham said.

More health workers will also be mobilised from states which have eased up on lockdown restrictions to states that are considered to be Covid-19 critical states, and vaccination activities will be enhanced.

Malaysia today recorded 7,097 fresh Covid-19 infections, taking the cumulative total to 799,790 cases since the start of the pandemic.

The number of active cases stood at 74,344 with 948 patients in the ICU, a new daily record.

There were also 91 deaths reported nationwide today, bringing the total number of fatalities to 5,768. – July 7, 2021.