As Covid-19 rages, Klang Valley ICU capacity at 113 percent

The intensive care units (ICU) at public hospitals in the Klang Valley are now working over capacity at an average of 113 percent as more Covid-19 patients fall critically ill.

“To cope with the increase, hospitals have had to repurpose other areas such as normal wards into temporary ICU by equipping beds with certain equipment.

“However, this also reduces the chance of non-Covid-19 patients from getting the necessary critical care,” Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement on Facebook.

He also shared statistics of ICU capacity in various hospitals.

Sungai Buloh Hospital, the main Covid-19 hospital in the Klang Valley, is seeing its ICU unit operating at 111 percent as of yesterday.

It has 80 ICU beds but is handling 89 critically ill Covid-19 patients.

Other strained hospitals include Kajang Hospital, Banting Hospital, Serdang Hospital, Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital and Ampang Hospital, which ICU are operating at a capacity of between 113 percent to 317 percent.

All other Klang Valley hospitals also have their ICU capacity at over 80 percent except Selayang hospital, which is at 73 percent.

Noor Hisham said the country’s healthcare system is under tremendous stress and urged Malaysians to play their role in breaking the chain of infection.

“Control your movement by staying at home. If you must go out, abide by the standard operating procedure.

“Employers are urged to allow their employees to work from home and limit the number of workers in the office,” he said.

Outside the Klang Valley, the ICU units in all states are also at above 70 percent capacity except in Perlis, Terengganu, Sabah and Labuan. - Mkini