The Malaysian Insight

THE Health Ministry must plan ahead to ensure sufficient healthcare resources for an anticipated surge in Covid-19 cases, said experts.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah recently warned that daily cases could reach 24,000 by mid-September. However, the number of new cases already breached 20,000 this week.

Epidemiologist and public health physician at the Universiti Malaya, Prof Dr Sanjay Rampal said the healthcare system should be augmented in the coming months to prepare for outbreaks. 

“It is good to have a projection of what’s to occur in the next six to eight weeks. However, it is more important to plan forward and ensure that the healthcare system in the regions expecting the bulk of these cases can accommodate the increase,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“Typically, the first services to be strained are public health service which play a vital role in reducing transmission.”

Overtaxed public health services leads to increased transmission and an ever-increasing number of cases that eventually overwhelms the healthcare systems, he added.

Sanjay said the trajectory of new cases will vary according to region.

Each region, he said, may have a different threshold of active cases before the healthcare system becomes overwhelmed. 

“New epicentres may develop in the coming weeks in the north-northeast and south of Peninsular Malaysia, and in Sabah. However, that may be mitigated by improving the vaccination rate in these regions,” he said.

Malaysian Public Health Physicians’ Association president Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said the healthcare system may be able to cope by pooling the resources of public, private and military hospitals.

Mildly symptomatic and symptomatic cases can be placed in home quarantine, said Zainal. 

He said early detection of categories 3 and 4 cases requiring respiratory support and prompt medical attention will also help.

“(The government must also) continue taking prevention and control measures across the country,” he said.

He said more workers are needed on at the low-risk quarantine centres, Covid-19 assessment centres and hospitals.

“We also need more health personnel and NGOs to help patients and families in home quarantine,” he said.

With more than 200,000 active cases reported in Malaysia, hospitals, especially those in the Klang Valley, are taxed with patient overload.

Reports of hospitals packed to the brim have repeatedly appeared on social media and the news.

Mild cases in the Klang Valley are quarantined at home, keeping hospital beds for those in need of medical care.

Malaysia yesterday reported 20,889 new infections, the second day in a row cases exceeded 20,000. 

There are more than 200,000 active infections nationwide, more than 1,000 of them in intensive care. – August 7, 2021.