MOH: Cause of tourist’s death in immigration depot pending lab test

CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry has conducted a post-mortem on the tourist who died in the Immigration Department's detention depot in Bukit Jalil last week, days after he finished treatment for Covid-19.

However, according to Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, they have yet to confirm the victim's cause of death pending laboratory reports.

"We have conducted the post-mortem and found that there were...side effects from pneumonia infection.

"There are possibly other causes behind his death, like bacterial infection and such. So we have taken swabs for bacteria...and sent them for laboratory tests.

Noor Hisham said they were waiting for the results of the lab tests before confirming the cause of death, as the tourist may have been positive for Covid-19 but died from something else.

"So, when we get the official report from the Forensics Department, only then we can inform his cause of death," Noor Hisham told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He was answering a reporter's question on the death of a 67-year-old Indian citizen who died in the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot.

The victim had since been identified as Zeawdeen Kadar Masdar, who hailed from Chennai. His family learned about his death through the news on June 14. A day later, the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur confirmed Zeawdeen's death.

According to a statement by the Immigration Department, Zeawdeen was admitted to the MAEPS temporary hospital in Serdang for Covid-19 on May 26, until he was released on June 7 and returned to the depot.

At about 6pm on June 11, Zeawdeen was found unconscious and rushed to Canselor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital (UKM Hospital) in Cheras, where he died.

Asked whether the Health Ministry had released the victim from treatment too early, Noor Hisham disagreed, saying that Zeawdeen was healthy and did not show any symptoms at the hospital.

"He did not show any symptoms. But he did have diabetes and high blood pressure.

"When (Zeawdeen) was under treatment at MAEPS hospital, he was healthy and showed no symptoms. After monitoring him for a certain period, we then discharged the patient as he did not show symptoms and had recovered (from Covid-19)," Noor Hisham said.

On another matter, Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry is planning to embark on research into Covid-19 antibodies in former patients.

According to him, there were claims that antibodies developed by those who had been infected by the virus would only last up to three months.

"We want to look into our patients, to monitor them if they still have the antibodies or not.

"We are discussing about this study, and might conduct it in the near future," he said.

To a question about the effect of Covid-19 on lungs and whether there is long term damage, Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry is monitoring patients who were classified in Category 4 and 5.

He said the patients would be monitored using CT scans and chest X-rays before they were discharged to see if there were any pneumonia complications. - Mkini