KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — A few private labs have yet to integrate their Covid-19 testing data with the Ministry of Health (MOH), Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.
According to the Health director general, this has caused a delay in MOH receiving notifications on positive Covid-19 cases, causing patients to have to wait at home before being taken to the hospital.
“Any positive cases that are detected by private labs have to be informed by the district health office. Only then a suitable action can be taken as soon as possible,” Dr Noor Hisham said during his briefing on Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases today.
“We are also informed that there are some difficulties. Maybe the results come out late and maybe positive Covid-19 cases have to stay at home.”
He was responding to a question by a reporter who asked him to respond to claims that Covid-19 patients detected in Klang, Selangor, have to wait for up to five days at home before being brought to the hospital.
“If there are cases which are late, what is important is to stay at home, we will send an ambulance or vehicle to come and fetch,” the Health director-general said.
Besides that, Dr Noor Hisham said an investigation is currently being done on a company that has made false Covid-19 screening results that was identified by a doctor in a private clinic in Rawang, which he said was a serious offence.
Malaysiakini reported today that the clinic founder, Dr Sathia Prakash Nadarajan, detected 20 fake test results under the clinic’s name, involving workers from a company which provides services from both public and private sectors.
Dr Noor Hisham also said that the MPs that were under home quarantine order were allowed to attend Parliament this week with full personal protective equipment (PPE) after their application was considered. He said that it wasn’t a new thing. The three MPs comprise Health Minister Dr Adham Baba, Human Resource Minister M. Saravanan, and Batu MP P. Prabakaran.
The two ministers and Prabakaran, a PKR lawmaker, had voted during the tabling of Budget 2021 yesterday for third reading. The Dewan Rakyat passed the budget into law with a narrow majority of three votes: 111 in favour and 108 against. Only one MP was absent, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah from Umno.
“This thing isn’t new. We have done it from day one itself, which is allowing a person under surveillance (PUS) that applied for time off to visit or to carry out certain duties,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
“For example in Sabah, we have allowed the PUS patients to go to voting centres to vote while wearing PPE, etc.”
