71 pct of Covid-19 beds filled in Sabah hospitals, ICU more than half

 

COVID-19 | More than half of the intensive care unit (ICU) beds allocated to Covid-19 patients in Sabah hospitals have been filled, while 71 percent of regular beds are taken.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 110 ICU beds allocated to Covid-19 patients in Sabah, 63 are filled while 47 are available to treat the most severe cases.

Meanwhile, of the 1,108 regular beds allocated, 275 are still available at the nine Covid-19 hospitals.

In Sabah, asymptomatic and lightly symptomatic Covid-19 patients are not treated in hospitals and are placed at quarantine and low-risk treatment centres instead.

In announcing the data, Noor Hisham, however, assured that sufficient beds will be available for treatment as cases continue to spike in the Borneo state.

Sabah has consistently recorded triple-digit increases in cases daily, with 429 new cases and four more deaths today.

A Flourish chart

Noor Hisham was responding to a question by Malaysiakini on the possible shortage of beds in Sabah.

The portal also sought a breakdown of ICU and regular beds by hospital, in light of reports that hospitals on the east coast were running short of space for patients.

While the Health director-general provided a breakdown of bed capacity in each of the nine hospitals, the data is not differentiated between ICU and regular beds.

The most severely hit districts based on the number of cases are Tawau, Kunak, Semporna, Sandakan and Lahad Datu.

According to the data provided, Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan has the most number of beds allocated to Covid-19 patients, at 164 beds; 54 percent or 87 are in use.

Of the other east coast hospitals, Tawau Hospital has filled 83 percent of its 214 allocated beds, Lahad Datu Hospital 70 percent of 131 beds and Semporna Hospital 25 percent of eight beds.

Kudat Hospital has the least number of beds with only two allocated for Covid-19 patients and one in use, while the Women and Children Hospital in Likas is almost at capacity with 95 percent of its 110 allocated beds in use.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu is using 73 percent of its 324 allocated beds.

The others are Keningau Hospital (35 beds, 18 in use) and Kota Marudu Hospital (12 beds, 3 in use).

"We are planning to add two ICU beds at Semporna Hospital. This would be done in one or two more days," he said while speaking about the ministry's plan to beef up their operations at the Sabah east coast district.

To avoid congestion at hospital facilities, Noor Hisham added, the ministry also uses 19 other facilities to admit less serious cases, like Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or only have minor symptoms.

These facilities have a total of 4,161 beds, with current usage at 23 percent.

On Oct 10, Malaysiakini in a special report revealed that Sabah hospitals are in a critical stage following a surge of cases in the state.

In response, Noor Hisham said while the spike has “tested” the public healthcare there, services are still operating well.

Even so, he noted, frontliners in Sabah are facing a critical moment in the fight against Covid-19.  - Mkini