Call on Khairy to direct the hospitalisation of Category 3 Covid-19 patients and those with comorbidities like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and cancers as well as the urgent construction of more field hospitals by the armed services
The new Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin should heed the SOS calls of the Penang General Hospital surgeons who want clear plans for the growing Covid-19 caseload, as reported by Malay Mail online (MMO).
MMO reported that Covid-19 cases that are growing at over 1,000 daily meant wards in the Penang General Hospital (GH) are at almost full capacity, prompting surgeons to seek direct guidelines for dealing with the spillover.
Some facilities in the hospital have had to be converted into Covid-19 wards and intensive care units (ICU), including the general operating theatre (OT) complex that has between nine and 10 OTs.
The conversion of the general OT complex meant all non-Covid related surgeries have been pushed to a smaller OT, which was previously used for minor surgeries.
All major surgeries such as for serious injuries due to accidents, tumour removal for cancer patients, open heart surgeries or emergency Caesarean delivery are now being held in the small OT, causing a queue for its usage.
“It was not only physical limitations, we have resource limitations too as most of the staff have to help with the Covid-19 wards,” said one surgeon.
There were a total 304 Covid-19 cases involving the hospital staff between January and August this year, the bulk of which were in August.
In August alone, 208 GH staff tested positive for Covid-19.
According to the surgeon, the latest report showed that 17 OT staff who have worked in the small OT tested positive for Covid-19.
Three patients who were recovering after successful operations here have also contracted Covid-19.
The situation is now almost at a breaking point, with the surgical team constantly worried about their safety and that of their patients.
Khairy should resolve the problems faced by Penang Hospital as well as other public hospitals as a result of the of the worsening Covid-19 pandemic.
He should give priority to break the back of the problem of high Covid-19 death rates and high Brought-in-Dead Covid-19 deaths.
In the nine days as the new Health Minister on 30th August, five states have high Covid-19 death rates, namely Selangor (980 deaths), Johor (413), Sabah (327) and Penang (227) and Kedah (202).
In Khairy’s first seven days as the Heath Minister, there were 600 BID Covid-19 deaths as compared to the previous seven days where there were 413 cases.
The daily Covid-19 data are still grim and bleak as there are no signs of a downward trend either for daily Covid-19 new cases or Covid-19 deaths.
Yesterday’s 18,547 daily new Covid-19 cases and 311 Covid-19 deaths (with 93 BID Covid-19 deaths) are too high, ranking Malaysia among the world’s Top Ten countries in both categories since August.
Yesterday, we were the world’s No. 6 among nations in daily new Covid-19 cases and No. 8 in daily Covid-19 deaths.
The first thing Khairy must do is to ensure that Malaysia drops out of the world’s Top Ten countries in daily new Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths.
The upward trend in BID Covid-19 deaths since Khairy’s swearing-in as the new Health Minister is a matter of concern. In Khairy’s first seven days as the Health Minister, there were 600 BID Covid-19 deaths as compared to the previous seven days where there were 413 cases.
In view of his statement in Kota Kinabalu on Monday, Malaysians are waiting for his clarification as to how many corpses are in the public hospitals, giving state-by-state figures, which are not recorded in the Ministry of Health data on Covid-19 because they are awaiting Covid-19 tests.
To help solve the problem of high Covid-19 deaths and high BID Covid-18 deaths, Khairy should direct the hospitalisation of Category 3 Covid-19 cases and those with comorbidities like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and cancers and the urgent construction of more field hospitals by the armed forces.