KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — The bed usage rate in all hospitals and non-hospital facilities treating Covid-19 patients was at 7 per cent as of September 15, Dr Adham Baba said.
A total of 632 active Covid-19 cases were reported on that day. The number of active coronavirus cases have since almost doubled in two weeks to 1,121 yesterday.
According to the health minister, a total of 2,387 beds have been allocated to treat patients infected with Covid-19 from 38 Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals and one teaching hospital, which has been identified as a Covid-19 hybrid hospital, whereby treatment for both Covid-19 patients as well as non coronavirus patients is given.
Dr Adham, in his written Dewan Negara reply on September 15, also said that a total of 1,349 beds have been identified in 15 facilities for stable Covid-19 patients and persons-under-investigations (PUI), such as MOH’s training institute, youth and sports centres, nurses’ hostels etc.
He highlighted to the Dewan Negara that the government built a low-risk Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centre in Malaysian Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) that operated from April 16 to July 15.
“It was developed within three days with a maximum capacity of 1,104 beds. This centre has successfully treated a total of 1,362 patients during that period,” Dr Adham told Senator Dr Ahmad Azam Hamzah.
“Therefore, MOH has no plans to build a special hospital for the treatment of Covid-19 patients at this point of time, as the total number of existing Covid-19 beds is still able to accommodate the present number of cases.”
Senator Dr Ahmad Azam (PKR) had asked the health minister to state if the government has plans to build a special hospital for Covid-19 patients, and to also state the number of hospitals that have been restored and constructed with the latest updates of these hospitals.
Dr Adham said that 14 new hospitals have been restored, while 31 more hospitals are being restored along with the 11’th Malaysia Plan.
“Besides that, two new hospitals have been built, which is the Kuala Krai Hospital in 2018 and Rembau Hospital in 2019,” Dr Adham told the Dewan Negara.
The health minister also announced nine new hospitals that are still in construction — Tanjung Karang Hospital, Selangor; Bachok Hospital, Kelantan; Dungun Hospital, Terengganu; Sri Aman Hospital, Sarawak; Parit Buntar Hospital, Perak; Pendang Hospital, Kedah; Kemaman Hospital, Terengganu; Lawas Hospital, Sarawak; and Bera Hospital, Pahang.
“Meanwhile, there are three new hospitals still in the pre-implementation phase involving planning, design, and procurement activities, namely Pasir Gudang Hospital, Johor; Seri Iskandar Hospital, Perak; and Petrajaya Hospital, Sarawak.”
The Petrajaya Hospital project, which had been approved by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to be implemented under the Tenth Malaysia Plan nine years ago, is currently in the tender evaluation phase to appoint a new contractor as the Public Works Department issued a notice of contractor termination to Zecon Berhad on August 2,2018 due to unsatisfactory project progress.
