Outpatient areas, housemen quarters repurposed to hold hospital beds

 

Several government hospitals have repurposed their houseman quarters and outpatient areas into wards to hold beds.

This is as the surge of Covid-19 cases is overwhelming the public healthcare system.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said among the facilities that have done so include Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang.

“We have repurposed the ACC (ambulatory care centre), HO (house officer) quarters and created more beds to accommodate the sudden surge in cases,” he told Malayiskini.

ACC refers to an area of the hospital that provides outpatient treatment.

This was on top of sending non-Covid-19 patients to private hospitals.

Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital previously set up temporary beds outside the hospital as it was overwhelmed with patients.

They have since been cleared and moved indoors.

Noor Hisham was responding to a question on whether Covid-19 patients in the Klang Valley were being airlifted to other states to relieve the stress on strained facilities.

He said this was “not true” as measures are being taken at the respective hospitals.

On July 8, the army also helped set up beds in the parking lots of Tuanku Mizan Military Hospital in Wangsa Maju to cope with overcapacity.

The Klang Valley is facing a surge of Covid-19 cases despite the “total lockdown”.

Daily cases hit a new high yesterday with Selangor seeing more than 4,000 new infections.

Despite this, the government has begun allowing departmental stores to reopen.

Isetan and Sogo were among those who announced that their departmental stores were reopening starting yesterday. - Mkini