Private Hospitals Provide 51 Ventilators To MOH

The Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia is also in final talks to receive non-coronavirus cases from MOH hospitals

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 – Private hospitals have provided 51 ventilators to the Ministry of Health (MOH) as part of their support towards the national effort to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak, and are working to receive non-coronavirus cases from public hospitals.

The Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) also said it has the support of all private hospitals to cancel their activities and to decrease non-urgent consultations. Some hospitals have also commenced walk-in and drive-in Covid-19 screening tests.

“Decisions on taking on cases are at the final stage. APHM and its member hospitals as responsible corporate bodies, see this as an opportunity for the private hospitals to work with the MOH and the government of Malaysia in facing this national crisis,” said APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh in a statement.

Yesterday, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah lamented on the possibility of a potential spike in Covid-19 cases and the limited capacity of government hospitals in terms of ventilator support.

“The only worry is that when there’s an exponential spike and capacity is limited, then we have to choose which patient will have the privilege of ventilation,” he said.

He added that MOH has managed to obtain 100 ventilators from private companies and 350 from China, adding 450 new to the current 945 ventilators in government hospitals for a total of 1,395 ventilators.

Dr Noor Hisham said today that MOH is planning to increase the number of ventilators to 500 for Covid-19 patients. The private sector has also loaned 60 ventilators to MOH.

The number of Covid-19 patients placed in intensive care decreased from 64 yesterday to 45 today, but the number of patients on ventilator support saw a rise from 27 yesterday to 34 today.

You may also like