KOTA KINABALU: Sabah health experts have called for a stepping up of the vaccination rate to prevent the state from becoming the “next Klang Valley’ in new Covid-19 infections.
Two specialists from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) said boosting the vaccination programme is key to bringing down the number of cases, which hit a record high of 1,383 yesterday.
Dr Kew Seih Teck, a consultant paediatrician at UMS’ medicine and health sciences faculty, also said the intensive care units (ICUs) in the state’s hospitals need to put up more beds, especially the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kota Kinabalu.
Kew, who is also the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Sabah chairman, said there are reports that open space like hospital corridors have been converted to Covid-19 wards.
He said QEH has been turned into a Covid-19 hospital due to the surge of infections, with its emergency and trauma department only accepting critical Covid-19 patients.
“We hope and pray that we don’t end up like the Klang Valley,” he told FMT.
“The key is vaccination. So far, that’s the only proof that it could prevent people from getting the disease, even the Delta variant, or at least it will not be that severe.
“We don’t want to reach a stage where we’ll have no more ICU beds to take care of critical patients.”
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Aug 5 that more than 1,000 Covid-19 patients are being hospitalised daily in the Klang Valley.
He said hospital admissions in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya have gone up by 33% compared with just two weeks ago, causing a strain on the already stretched public health system.
Sabah local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun also said yesterday the number of new Covid-19 cases in the state will continue to rise unless more vaccinations are carried out.
Yesterday, the number of new infections soared to 1,383. The previous high was 1,379 on Sunday, and with 1,291 cases on Friday, this means new daily infections have hit record highs three times in the space of just five days.
As of Monday, 1,126,645 individuals, or 40.8% of the state’s adult population, have received their first dose, but only 485,880, or 17.6% of the population, have received their second dose.
Masidi said the government is continuing to ramp up the health department’s vaccination capacity but added that vaccine supply must be available and sufficient at all times.
UMS’ senior public health medicine specialist and public health unit head, Dr Yusof Ibrahim, said Sabah is still the lowest in terms of vaccination coverage, but welcomed the state government’s move to boost the immunisation exercise.
“If we can reach 80% coverage by October, the cases will come down. We are also facing the Delta variant, which is more infectious and spreads faster.
“All of us are working hard to achieve this target. UMS is now open to the public and we are covering 3,000 people per day. We also have mobile teams reaching out to the rural areas,” he said.
Kew also welcomed news that the state government’s investment arm, Qhazanah Sabah Group, will be purchasing 250,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine but pointed out that more is needed.
“The state government needs to be more proactive and work with NGOs to get more supplies of vaccines instead of only waiting for the federal government.
“I believe if we have the will, we can find financial support. Last September, the MMA Sabah branch launched a Covid-19 fundraising and within three months, we managed to raise over RM2 million in cash and in equipment, to be donated to Sabah hospitals.
“The state should be able to do better,” he said. - FMT
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