Sabah medical emergency teams have been deployed to the Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) in Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam and Dewan Sri Andalas, Klang to treat severe coronavirus patients waiting for beds at the hospitals.
This came after the condition of several patients at the Stadium Melawati CAC worsened while they were still waiting to be admitted to hospital.
The Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia, an NGO volunteering to assist frontliners at the CACs with its response and relief team (Imaret), said they could only provide medical oxygen for such patients.
Imaret chief coordinator Dr Ahmad Munawwar Helmi Salim said 20 to 40 patients had been stuck at the Stadium Melawati CAC in the past week, sometimes until late at night.
“The CACs are run by semi-physicians and medical officers from the health clinics. We need to start an emergency team at the CAC,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.
“While the Stadium Melawati CAC serves the population in Petaling District, we don’t have a referral hospital as there is no hospital nearby. The practice now is to send patients to the Sungai Buloh Hospital and Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Maeps),” he said.
Public hospitals treating Covid-19 patients were reportedly on the brink of collapse as they were struggling to cope with the surge in virus cases.
While the media reported on the dire situation in Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (Htar) in Klang, Munawwar said the CAC in Klang could still secure a spot for their patients at the hospital when it is required.
A CAC’s functions include assessing people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and deciding whether they ought to be isolated at home, at a low-risk quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC), or referred to a hospital.
“In Stadium Melawati CAC, we received an average of 1,700 people a day in the past. But the past week saw a larger crowd and the number shot up to 2,000. Yesterday was the worst, we had a crowd size of 2,688,” he said.
“After a day off on Sunday, we expected that over 3,600 will show up today,” added Munawwar.
Some 1,500 patients had already shown up at the Dewan Sri Andalas CAC in Klang, which only began operation today. Prior to this, the Klang folk went to four health clinics for Covid-19 assessment.
The Health Ministry, in its effort to deploy more healthcare workers to the Covid-19 epicentre of Klang Valley, transferred four doctors from Sandakan Hospital and Tawau Hospital to Stadium Melawati CAC and Dewan Sri Andalas CAC.
The arrival of the Sabah doctors were also coordinated by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) and Imaret, which will arrange accommodation and other logistical matters for doctors.
“The cavalry has arrived. Praise be to god, the Sabah ED team (emergency department) comprises emergency physicians and ED medical officers,” tweeted Munawwar, after picking up the doctors at the airport.
He also quoted one of the Sabah ED members as saying : “When Sabah was hit by the Covid-19 crisis last time, the people in Kuala Lumpur came; now it’s time for us to return the favour”.
Munawwar said the four doctors have been deployed at the CAC for a month.
He also called for more volunteers with medical and non-medical backgrounds to assist the operation at the CAC and vaccination centres.
“Some may say that there’s enough doctors and medical staff at the CACs. No, these are the personnels taken from health clinics and they need to go back to provide non-Covid-19 treatment and healthcare services to the public,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also urged the public to donate to Imaret as it needs RM100,000 to fund its work for two months.
“We have RM70,000 and the money is enough to (cover) for one month,” added Munawwar. - Mkini
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