PETALING JAYA: Sungai Buloh Hospital, the main treatment centre for Covid-19 case, is 81% full and two centres for low-risk patients are 71% and 84% full respectively, the health ministry reported today, as infections continue to top the 1,000-case mark every day.
However, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were enough beds to cope with the current number of cases.
Of a total of 11,493 beds allocated in six hospitals and treatment centres, 58% or 6,646 beds are currently in use
Bed capacity numbers were revealed by the Covid-19 central region command centre in a tweet today. It said overall bed use was at 58% in the central region, encompassing Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
Kuala Lumpur Hospital, which has 648 beds for intensive treatment, was at 52% capacity with 339 patients being treated.
Bed use at the National Leprosy Control Centre had reached 84%, while the health ministry’s training institute in Sungai Buloh was at 71%. Both centres are used for low-risk patients.
The Malaysian Agro Exposition Park at Serdang, which has been used for treatment of foreign workers, was at 50% capacity, the command centre reported.
Following the surge in active cases, the ministry might temporarily convert Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital to treat Covid-19 patients “only for citizen patients”.
Earlier today, Noor Hisham had said the large number of cases in the Klang Valley had caused logistics issues and delays in transporting patients to hospitals.
In recent days, many patients have complained of long waits for ambulances to pick them up after they had been tested positive. A netizens’ group has, in fact, started a drive to collect names of those who were still waiting for the call from the hospital.
Noor Hisham has urged those who test positive for Covid-19 but are asymptomatic to self-isolate while waiting for officials to contact them.
He also advised those self-isolating to keep in touch with their district health offices while waiting to be brought to the hospital.
Malaysia has been recording over 1,000 Covid-19 cases daily, with 1,196 infections and one death yesterday. The total number of cases in the country now stands at 105,096, with 20,233 active cases currently.
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