Health groups want more safeguards as MOH recalls infected workers

 

As the Health Ministry moves to shorten the quarantine period for some Covid-19 positive healthcare workers to alleviate short-staffing, a coalition of healthcare workers has urged the ministry to reconsider the move and introduce additional safeguards.

The Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) said this is to prevent Covid-19 cases from turning into healthcare-associated Covid-19 clusters, which would defeat the new policy’s objective of preventing short-staffing and alleviating Covid-19 caseload.

They noted that studies have shown that half of Covid-19 patients remain infectious on Day 5 of their illness and beyond.

“Requiring healthcare professionals with asymptomatic Covid-19 infection to return to work on Day 6 with possible illness could lead to healthcare-associated clusters. We ask the government to be cautious in approving such policies as it defeats MOH’s objectives to prevent short staffing and alleviate the Covid-19 caseload.

“We urge the government to mandate antigen testing for asymptomatic healthcare professionals on Day 5 and only allow those with negative test results to return to work,” it said in a statement today.

They also urged the government to ensure that healthcare workers are supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment, including providing respirators that meet standards such as N95, KF94, and FFP2 to all healthcare workers.

An N95 respirator

For healthcare workers who have dependents, especially children, they urged the government to allow them to complete the full seven-day isolation period.

This is because childcare and education facilities are unlikely to accept their children until the seven days have passed, the MHC said.

“We expect the government to provide medical certificates instead of requiring healthcare workers to take annual leave for any additional days of rest, to be fair and compassionate, and to ensure both the parents and children are fully safe to return to work or schools,” they said.

The statement is signed by 14 organisations for healthcare professionals and five health experts. They include the Academy of Medicine Malaysia, Malaysian Association of Environmental Health, Malaysian Pharmacists Society, Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia, and Pertubuhan Doktor-Doktor Islam Malaysia.

Increased absenteeism due to Covid-19

On March 21, the Health Ministry issued a circular stating that some healthcare workers infected with Covid-19 may be called upon to return to work early, in event of a “human resource crisis”.

According to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, hospital directors have urged for the policy to be introduced due to absenteeism rates hovering above 6 percent since March 4. The work absences are due to healthcare workers undergoing quarantine after becoming infected.

The ministry had already loosened quarantine requirements for Covid-19 close contacts among healthcare workers a month earlier, before relaxing rules for infected personnel as well.

Under the new rules, healthcare workers who have no symptoms by Day 5 after testing positive may be summoned to return to work on Day 6. No further testing is required before returning to work.

For those in Category 2 in severity (symptomatic, no pneumonia), they may be recalled if they test negative using an RTK-Ag test on Day 5, have no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and their symptoms have substantially resolved.

Both categories of healthcare workers are required to adhere to a set of rules, which among others forbade them from treating immunocompromised patients or mingling with their colleagues while being unmasked. They must wear “appropriate” protective equipment in clinical areas of healthcare facilities.

However, the rules only required that they wear a well-fitted three-ply surgical mask when in close contact with their colleagues, rather than respirators that meet more stringent standards.

Khairy has assured that the new rules would not affect patient safety, as the workers would be symptom-free or have cleared a Covid-19 test, in addition to wearing personal protective equipment.

“We find this is sufficient alongside the personal protective equipment normally worn in hospitals, which offers good protection not only for doctors but also for patients,” he told a press conference last Thursday. - Mkini