PETALING JAYA: The number of hospital admissions of Covid-19 patients, especially among those in Categories 4 and 5, will reveal the true burden on the healthcare system, according to an infectious disease expert.
Commenting on how most Covid-19 cases reported daily were in Categories 1 and 2, former health deputy director-general Dr Christopher Lee said these patients could deteriorate in mere days.
Lee told FMT the categorisation of cases at their point of diagnosis was more telling of the fact that the health ministry was testing people early, evidenced by the large number of Categories 1 and 2 cases daily.
“If we want to assess the medical care burden, a good marker is the number of hospitalisations, especially for those in higher categories, which at this point in Malaysia is very high. ICU admissions and deaths will tell the same story.
“Clinical category at point of diagnosis may not tell us the true seriousness of the disease as lower categories can progress to higher categories in days.
“There is certainly a change in the disease pattern over the last one to two months. Whether it’s because more older folks have been vaccinated or due to the change in variants is uncertain.
“But this phenomenon is also seen in other countries which are experiencing a surge, including the US and the UK,” he said.
He said the data and images coming out from Klang Valley hospitals speaks volumes on the state of the public health system, adding that the government also needed to look at response times to non-Covid-19 emergencies.
This includes the response time to initiating appropriate treatment for myocardial infarction or stroke, or for surgical operations in major trauma.
“This will reflect how much Covid-19 has impacted those who don’t have Covid-19.”
False sense of security
Meanwhile, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii expected Covid-19 deaths, which hit a record-high of 199 last Wednesday, to remain high in the coming weeks with the influx of cases.
Yii told FMT the deaths Malaysia saw daily usually involved patients who had contracted the virus around two weeks ago.
He said the health ministry’s move to reveal the categories of daily cases might give Malaysians a false sense of security over the Covid-19 situation nationally and the severity of the virus.
“What is more important is the progression of these patients because, due to variants of concern, patients tend to deteriorate faster, even from Category 1 to Categories 4 or 5 within a few days.
“That is why I believe it is important that they are transparent and take extra steps to update the public on the progression of those infected, to give the public a proper impression on the situation.
“Even differentiating those that have been vaccinated will give confidence to the programme itself, especially when it significantly reduces severe symptoms and death,” he said. - FMT
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