Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has shared some of the challenges faced by health officers in the field as they go about combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the challenges faced by health officers in the field are very difficult and shared a post by Dr Muhamad Naim Ab Razak which told of how tough it was to convince a patient that an isopod was a safe device.
An isopod, or isolation pod, is a device used to transport infectious patients. The device is to prevent the infection from affecting the public and even affecting the doctors themselves.
"The risk of infection is very high in various circumstances. May all challenges and obstacles be overcome as best as possible," said Noor Hisham.
In the post, Naim, who helped set up the Trauma and Emergency Department in Lahad Datu, wrote of the challenges of convincing patients to overcome their fear of isopods.
"One patient was struggling to get out of the isopod. The patient was coughing up phlegm which may spray everywhere as the facemask that was provided earlier had fallen off.
"To make it easier for travel, I had to give the patient a sedative so that he could sleep," said Naim, who is currently assisting medical teams in Semporna.
He added that he understood the fears of patients who were required to be treated in isolation pods.
"I also received a complaint that the hospital was said to put a living patient into a coffin. The isopod might not be a piece of magical medical equipment, but it's not a coffin either.
"It's just a plastic container that has a compartment with negative air pressure compared to the outside when the windpump switch is turned on.
"The purpose is only one - to reduce the risk of virus infection in medical officers," said Naim in his post.
He said that isopods were actually recommended for all Covid-19 patients, but they did not have money to buy enough of them.
The price for an isopod is reportedly up to a five-digit figure and therefore, every hospital has only one or two isopods, he said.
"I would usually prioritise patients who have a high chance of expelling fluids to the air when they are being sent by ambulance to a treatment centre.
"Patients like those need high oxygen-relief, which is done through intubation procedures.
"This is because an ambulance is an enclosed space that could have the virus trapped in it and endanger frontliners," he wrote.
Naim said that the use of isopods is safe, and they have been tested by putting medical staff in them before using them on patients.
He said that while the isopods may not be suitable for those with claustrophobia, or those who cannot follow instructions, but the use of sedative medicine can help this process.
He urged the public to spread his message as much as possible, especially to villagers in Semporna, so that they would not be afraid anymore when they are put into isopods.
Sabah is currently the worst-hit state in Malaysia in terms of Covid-19 figures with 44 deaths in the last 11 days and 702 new cases reported yesterday.
- Mkini
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