Kedah may transfer severe Covid-19 cases to army field hospital in Penang

 

Covid-19 patients in categories four and five will be transferred to the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) field hospital in Kepala Batas, Penang if the hospitals in Kedah can no longer accommodate the increasing number of patients in both these categories.

Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the MAF had already stated its readiness to receive patients from the state, but the Health Department in both states must discuss the matter further.

“If the hospitals here are full, we will arrange to have them transferred to the field hospital in Kepala Batas. It is difficult to set up a field hospital here, and the hospital in Kepala Batas has not stretched to capacity.

“It is much easier to take the patients by ambulance to the hospital than setting up the hospital here, it only requires the cooperation of the Health Department here and in Penang,” he told a press conference after the opening of the Amanjaya Sports Arena mega vaccination centre in Sungai Petani today.

He was asked to comment if the state government plans to establish a field hospital in the state following the surge in Covid-19 cases apart from the high utilisation of ICU beds in Kedah hospitals.

According to him, three hospitals in the state with ICU beds for Covid-19 patients are the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB) in Alor Setar, Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital (HSAH) here and Kulim Hospital where the occupancy rate has reached 90 percent.

Sanusi, in thanking the MAF for offering the Kepala Batas field hospital facilities for patients from the state, said patients would only be transferred if there is an urgent need to do so.

- Bernama