Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has predicted that the Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah would be contained in four weeks.
In his press conference on 26 October, he added that there have been positive signs in the east coast of Sabah and that their focus is now on the west coast in Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Putatan.
Health DG is confident of containing the virus spread in the worst hit state of Sabah in four weeks . Malaysia posted its highest single day increase of 1240 cases . 927 or 75% of cases are in Sabah . 7 deaths added . https://t.co/E2ruzVXd7U pic.twitter.com/o2hIT8xA9i
— Melissa Goh (@MelGohCNA) October 26, 2020
Although the health system in Sabah is not collapsing, Dr Noor Hisham admitted that the situation was more difficult and challenging, reported The Edge Markets.
“However, we are more prepared this time than we were in March in terms of human resources, facilities and personal protective equipment (PPE),” he said.
Dr Hisham also refuted allegations that the state’s health system is collapsing due to the sharp increase in Covid-19 cases. He assured that they do not have problems with finance when dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak as the Finance Division of the Ministry of Health (MOH) had approved several allocations including the emergency procurement for Sabah.
“The public is assuming that we are not implementing a good health system or it seems to collapse, but it is not true.”
“In terms of hospital capacity (in Sabah), the use of beds is only 52% and the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) has 128 beds with usage at 60%. We also have 26 quarantine and low-risk treatment centres for level one and two cases.”
“Right now, we are considering level three patients who are stable and have no risk to get treatment at the quarantine centres. We are also looking at creating six more quarantine and low-risk treatment centres if there is a need,” he said.
When asked about Covid-19 patients in Sabah to receive treatment at home, Dr Noor Hisham said that the MOH is considering the idea in case there is a shortage of beds at hospitals or quarantines centres. However, he added that it was not a policy yet.
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