KUALA LUMPUR: Medical experts have urged the Health Ministry to preserve the quality of Covid-19 care in the country by maintaining the current Covid-19 model applied in the ministry's healthcare facilities.
Datuk Dr Musa Nordin suggested that the ministry should continue keeping dedicated Covid-19 hospitals in the public sector, and decongest these facilities by decanting low-risk patients and non-Covid-19 cases.
The consultant paediatrician pointed out that healthcare workers in public facilities are doing an excellent job in managing Covid-19 patients, as proven by recent data.
He said the average case fatality rate (CFR) in the world is 2.1 per cent. The figure in the United States, he added, is at 1.7 per cent and 2.7 per cent in the United Kingdom.
"In Malaysia, our CFR is 0.4 per cent, and this is brilliant. Looking at the risk of death, in Malaysia, it is one in 50,000.
"Globally, the risk of death is one in 3,700 persons. In the US, it is one in 781, and in the UK, it is one in 700.
"We are doing extremely well. If the (system) is not broken, why fix it?
"Decongest public hospitals by decanting category 1 and 2 Covid-19 patients, and sending non-Covid patients to private hospitals."
Dr Musa was a panel speaker in a virtual forum on "Managing Covid Patients in Private Hospitals", organised by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) tonight.
He added that from the moment the pandemic arrived in the country, the Health Ministry had clearly streamlined its strategy, announcing that all Covid-19 patients would be sent to 52 of its hospitals, including Universiti Malaya Medical Centre and the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital.
He said death among healthcare workers is higher in other countries where Covid-19 patients are managed in both public and private facilities.
"This is what's happening in the US, Russia, UK and our neighbour, Indonesia.
"It is because of the model that we currently have that we are doing very well with CFR and risk of dying.
"We have a strategy that is working. Let's continue with it," he said.
Dr Musa acknowledged that there is a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, but said more beds could be created to manage infected patients.
One way, he said, is to decant non-Covid patients in the intensive care units, occupying 36 per cent of beds in government hospitals.
Another, he added, is to decant ventilated non-Covid patients, which occupy 40 per cent of the beds in public healthcare facilities.
"The solution is staring at us in the face."
Meanwhile, Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said the association had been in talks with the ministry since last year on decanting patients to private hospitals.
"However, the uptake is pretty low.
"This year again, the ministry has been allocated RM100 million to treat patients in private hospitals, but to my knowledge, I don't think they have decanted as many to the private sector.
"We are prepared to see (non-Covid patients) on the spot. We have got specialists who wouldn't mind seeing these patients even at a reduced cost or rate," he added.
Dr Kuljit said healthcare facilities should be able to find a way to help patients based on capability and capacity.
Private hospitals, he added, vary in sizes and restrictions, and are not designed for pandemics or infectious diseases in big numbers.
"Having said that, we took the task of taking in Covid-19 patients who have the means to pay for care at private facilities, and we are managing pretty well."