Health Minister: Klang Valley hospital bed capacity past 85pct usage

 

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba today said current hospital bed capacity, including repurposed beds, in Klang Valley hospitals have passed 85 percent usage.

Taking into account the need to set up more beds including in the intensive care unit (ICU), Adham in a statement said the ministry had yesterday agreed to affirmative actions including outsourcing non-Covid-19 patients to surrounding private hospitals.

He said the government will also increase capacity of ICU and non-ICU beds including supporting facilities such as ventilators at Health Ministry hospitals and university teaching hospitals to allow admission of more Covid-19 patients.

Medical officers and paramedics from other states will also be temporarily mobilised to hospitals in the Klang Valley, which require more manpower to treat Covid-19 patients, he said in a statement today.

The government also intends to pull in volunteers and final-year nursing students with practical experience from the Health Ministry’s institutions to help existing officers at vaccine centres (PPVs).

This way, more experienced nurses stationed at PPVs and Covid-19 testing sites will be reassigned to the Health Ministry’s hospitals, he said.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba

Aside from the government’s efforts, Adham once again urged the public to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the movement control order (MCO).

There is an increase in the number of category three to five Covid-19 patients who are sent or referred to Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s (HKL) emergency and trauma department (E&T) and the ICU, he said.

As of the latest data, Adham said HKL’s E&T department receives between 60 to 70 Covid-19 patients a day, with an average of three patients from category four or five in a day.

He also said out of all the Covid-19 cases HKL deals with, a total of 71 percent are in category three to five, whereas the remaining are in category one and two.

Category one and two refer to asymptomatic or mild cases, whereas category three are for those with moderate symptoms. Category four refers to those who require ventilation whereas category five are for those who have to be treated in the ICU.

Adham reminded that the HKL is a hybrid hospital that accepts both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients in the E&T department and the ICU.

While HKL has prepared extra beds, he said Covid-19 patients who have stabilised will be transferred to the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital and the Institute of Respiratory Medicine. - Mkini