PUTRAJAYA: The government has taken immediate measures to ramp up the number of beds, oxygen tanks and manpower in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur to cater to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.
Health deputy director-general (public health) Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong, who heads the Greater Klang Valley Task Force, said the authorities have to create about 800 beds a day to cater to the current level of over 12,000 cases daily.
"The Greater Klang Valley Taskforce was formed with a very clear mandate, which is to address the critical situation brought about by the tremendous rise in cases this year.
"In January we had 2,000 cases a day, in early May we had about 4,000 cases and there was a sudden jump in late May to 8,000.
"It dropped a bit in June but rebounded to 12,000 daily cases over the last two weeks and unfortunately today we have over 15,000 cases. This is alarming and places a tremendous strain on our beds, oxygen, and manpower capacity.
"The taskforce has to deal with this crisis. Our top priority now is to save lives and ensure that all ill patients are cared for, be it beds, assessments or just monitoring.
"We also have to continuously prepare for an exponential rise of cases until we are fully protected by the vaccination. Under this task force, we work together with all ministries, federal and state governments and we work very closely with the military, as well as the NGOs," he said at a press conference here today.
Under the taskforce, he said a bed management unit headed by two operations commanders have been set up to keep track of all Covid cases in the greater Klang Valley, specifically Selangor, KL and Negri Sembilan as well as boost the bed capacities and ensure sufficient oxygen and manpower for these areas.
"The numbers to date for Covid beds is 12,104 and there are 636 ICU beds, and we are also decanting non-Covid cases to the private healthcare facilities. There are about 500 non-Covid cases so far.
"Nonetheless we have to create approximately 800 beds a day to cater for the current level of 12,000 a day."
Over the last two days, said Chong, the special task force has increased the capacity of category three patients in the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park (MAEPS) Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre to an average of 600 admissions a day from the Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) to reduce the backlog of cases in the Klang Valley.
He said Mercy Malaysia field hospital assets have also been deployed to Selayang hospital and HKL to create additional 100 beds each in the emergency department and volunteers deployed as well to carry the oxygen tanks.
"There is also decanting of non-Covid patients to private hospitals as well as the district hospitals which has created 300 Covid beds in the greater Klang Valley hospitals.
"Besides, there is creation of additional beds along the corridors of Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) (100 beds), Selayang Hospital (100 beds), and more will be in progress.
"There is also necessity to secure pipeline and access to oxygen which is very important. Additionally, within the next few days, Selayang Hospital will receive two tanks of 5,000 litres (of oxygen) each and University Malaya Medical Centre, UKM's Specialist Children's Hospital (HPKK), and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) will receive one tank each. Oxygen capacity will also be increased in MAEPS.
"In case the cases rise further beyond our capacity, we will look for another mega PKRC."
Chong said, to address the issue of bed capacity, those who tested positive have been asked to stay at home and monitor themselves using the health assessment tool (HAT), which is embedded in the MySejahtera application.
"There is a huge number of diagnosed positive cases coming to the CAC daily at around 4,000 to 6,000 cases and sometimes more.
"Hence, we have now asked patients to stay at home. A digital home surveillance order will be sent to them through MySejahtera to remind them that they are legally under home surveillance although they do not wear a pink tag.
"All those who are symptomatic will be asked to come to the CAC for assessment if found necessary through the HAT.
"Our reasons for doing this is to ensure we can focus our attention on those who are ill and deteriorating," he added.