Doctors: Window of opportunity closing, gov't must act decisively on Covid-19

CORONAVIRUS | A coalition of medical associations have urged the government to act decisively in the Covid-19 outbreak, warning that the window of opportunity is closing.

"As Malaysia’s emergency physicians, critical care specialists, intensivists and public health physicians, we urge the government to act now to control the Covid-19 outbreak.

"Our window of opportunity is closing rapidly, and we must quickly implement an all-of-society strategy," they said in a statement.

The joint statement was signed by Academy of Medicine Malaysia master Dr Rosmawati Mohamad, College of Anaesthesiologists president Dr Jahizah Hassan, Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists president Dr Marzida Mansor, Malaysian Society of Intensive Care president Dr Mohd Basri Mat Nor, College of Emergency Physicians president Dr Ridzuan Mohd Isa, College of Public Health Medicine president Dr Sha'ari Ngadiman, Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association president Zainal Ariffin Omar, Academy of Medicine Malaysia council member Chan Yoo Kuen and Universiti Malaya Health Systems and Policies senior fellow Dr Khor Swee Kheng.

The doctors said the strategy must be to contain the total number of cases and to spread out the increase over a longer period of time.

"This will allow us to conserve and allocate limited resources – for example, front-line emergency department staff, intensive care beds, ventilators and health inspectors performing contact tracing – in more sustainable and fairer ways.

"If the total number of cases is high and they happen all at once, Malaysia’s hospitals will be overwhelmed," they added.

The doctors said they do not want to face a situation like in Italy, where doctors must make decisions on who lives or dies as overwhelmed hospitals do not have enough equipment and resources.

The doctors suggested that the government undertake the following measures:

1) Act decisively in prohibiting mass gatherings

This should be uniformly applied across all government agencies, private businesses, civil societies, religious authorities and communities.

This is not a lockdown, which is too extreme and unnecessary. Essential services should continue, and citizens should have basic freedom of movement.

2) Act firmly to educate the public about "social distancing"

It is the best intervention to reduce viral spread. We must provide adequate support for workers (who may lose income), employers (who may lose revenue) and citizens (who may lose services).

We must protect the mental and physical health of older adults staying at home; civil society organisations can help fill this gap.

3) Deliver clear, coordinated and confident risk communications

This is to provide a reliable source of information, advice and recommendations.

The doctors said their organisations are already preparing for a surge of cases by reallocating existing resources.

"We are also mobilising additional resources from colleagues in the private sector, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.

"If we implement social distancing now, we can reduce the total number of cases and distribute them over a longer period of time.

"This will protect against suffering and allow us to save more Malaysians by allocating our resources more effectively and fairly," they said.

Yesterday, Malaysia's total Covid-19 cases almost doubled, increasing by 190 cases in a day, bringing the total to 428 cases.

Preliminary investigations showed most of the cases are linked to a religious gathering at Sri Petaling mosque.

Some 16,000 people attended the gathering from Feb 27 to March 1, 14,500 of whom are Malaysians from across the country.

Globally, 167,392 people have been infected to date with 6,503 deaths.

China, where the virus started, was the worst-hit country, with 80,860 cases and 3,212 deaths. However, The country is now only seeing low double-digit cases after two months of unprecedented measures including lockdowns.

However, the virus has spread to other parts of the world and Italy is now the worst-hit country in Europe.

Italy has reported 24,747 cases to date with 1,809 deaths, with new 368 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

Track Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia here.  

 - Mkini