We can’t build hospitals in 10 days, but we can still be prepared for the worst.
While Malaysia may not be able to build a hospital in merely 10 days, the public healthcare sector is doing all it can to prepare for the worst amid the worsening Covid-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Health has said.
Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said among the measures taken by the ministry is to redeploy medical personnel and decant hospitals from other states.
“In terms of medical healthcare worker and facilities, we cannot build a hospital in 10 days and neither can we increase our healthcare workers, but what we can do is deploy them.
“That means worker from other states coming here, for example, coming into Selangor to assist us and then we decant some of our hospitals, 33 of them, hopefully, they can manage and create beds for Covid-19 patients as well as the Intensive Care Unit,” he told a press conference at the ministry.
In January, it was reported that China’s Wuhan city — where the Covid-19 outbreak started — had completed construction of the 1,000-bed Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital built to treat Covid-19 patients in a feat that was done under ten days.
Dr Noor Hisham further added that public hospitals have also referred existing patients to the private healthcare sector, with the ministry now also able to postpone elective surgeries and thus free more beds in hospitals.
“We have managed to create 1,350 hospital beds using nurses’ quarters and house those whose cases that are stable and positive or asymptomatic.
“Should we need beds further, we will convert our training institute to become a ward. What is more important for us is to prepare for the worse and then hope for the best,” he said, adding that the ministry was doing all it could to prevent an exponential spike in cases and enhance its healthcare facilities to be prepared for the admittance of a Covid-19 patient.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham also said the ministries were looking into several innovative methods to obtain blood supplies from donors, following dwindling supplies at the National Blood Bank.
“Yes, there is a shortage of blood, but the usage has also gone down with elective surgeries now postponed.
“Instead of you coming to the blood bank, is it possible for us to go to your home to collect? Door to door, for example. We are trying to see how we can run our blood donation campaign, maybe a hotline for those who want to donate could contact our team and we will then go to your home to collect the blood since we have the movement control order in place,” he said. – MMO