Spike in brought-in-dead cases: Lack of awareness and access to 999 blamed

 

The number of Covid-19 patients being brought in dead (BID) has increased due to the public’s lack of awareness of how to track their symptoms while self-isolating at home and the current inaccessibility to emergency medical services.

This is according to the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia’s Response and Relief Team (Imaret) Covid-19 task force coordinator Dr Ahmad Munawwar Helmi Salim, who has been volunteering with his team to assist the frontliners at the Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CACs).

“The public does not know when there are red flags ... the emergency signs, because sometimes the symptoms are subtle.

“When you send these people home, you ask them to isolate themselves at home and don’t come to the CAC, but if they have symptoms which are red flags, it must be accessible for them to go to the hospital via 999, but this is not happening because 999 is overwhelmed with too many cases.

“That is why we have so many BID cases because the symptoms are subtle,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini yesterday.

The symptoms could be as subtle as just a feeling of fatigue when actually the individual’s blood oxygen concentration may be dangerously low, Munawwar warned.

Often patients are rushed to the hospital after their condition has become fatal because they were not able to recognise their deteriorating symptoms, he said.

Seven-fold increase

That is why more awareness is needed among the public on how to accurately identify their symptoms while under home monitoring, Munawwar added.

He said there is also a need for “lower thresholds” for the emergency hotline 999 to respond to these calls for urgent medical help.

It was previously reported on July 2 that Malaysia is seeing a spike in BID cases due to Covid-19 complications, especially in the Klang Valley involving those aged 50 and above.

The National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) had found that there was a seven-fold increase in BID cases from April, which had 35 BID cases, to June 2021, with 246 cases. - Mkini