Exposed KK hospital staff return to work after 2 negative tests, no quarantine

 

COVID-19 | Queen Elizabeth II Hospital staff who had contact with those infected with Covid-19 do not have to be quarantined if they test negative and do not show symptoms.

Confirming this, hospital director Dr Razak Tambi said this is according to Annex 21 of the Health Ministry protocols to ensure operations run smoothly during the pandemic.

"The standard operating procedures are in place, so when something happens we apply it and operate as usual," he said when contacted.

The protocol was activated at the Kota Kinabalu hospital yesterday after two intensive care nurses tested positive.

Under this protocol, staff have to be tested immediately after it is known that they have had close contact with an infected person.

If they test negative twice in 48 hours, non-symptomatic staff will continue working, taking the necessary precautions like wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) and limiting unnecessary contact.

In Sabah, staff can be tested using the Rapid Test Kit (RTK), instead of the more sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

However, symptomatic staff need to test negative twice using PCR before they can return to work.

Those returning to work must also limit their movements and only travel between home and work, and avoid using the staff pantry or canteen.

Yesterday, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 40 of the 66 nurses at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital are in quarantine after contact with an infected colleague.

The cause of infection for the two infected nurses is still under investigation, but it is believed to be through community contact and not contact with an infected patient.

The Queen Elizabeth II Hospital is not a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, but it supports the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by taking in all non-Covid-19 patients transferred from the latter hospital.

Support pledged, but hospital says it is coping fine

Malaysiakini understands more nurses will be deployed to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital's ICU to make up for the shortage, but it is unclear if they are from other departments in the hospital or other hospitals.

Razak said the Sabah Health Department has offered to provide more resources, but so far, the hospital has managed to handle the situation internally by diverting staff from other departments.

"We will use staff at non-affected units first. We will plan further tomorrow to see what else needs to be done, but it is not a problem now.

"We have reduced the ICU (intensive care unit) capacity from eight beds to six, but we still have additional beds in the Critical Intensive Care Unit and Critical Care Units so we can still use those.

"Tomorrow we will see what the Sabah Health Department may plan to send for us," he told Malaysiakini.

Yesterday, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba promised to mobilise more resources to assist the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital while Noor Hisham said 475 Health Ministry staff had been sent to Sabah to boost the Covid-19 effort.

Some 374 new cases were reported in Sabah yesterday, with the east coast districts of Sandakan, Tawau, Kunak, Semporna and Lahad Datu the worst hit.

Sabah currently has 10 red zones, including Kota Kinabalu which has 422 active cases, according to the State Health Department. - Mkini