KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) beds in government hospitals in Johor are now running at over-capacity, Johor health and environment committee chairman R. Vidyananthan said today.
Vidyananthan, in a statement, said that a total of 43 ICU beds in all government hospitals in Johor have been allocated for Covid-19 patients, but there are currently 49 coronavirus cases being treated in ICU.
“Based on May 3, 2021 statistics, a total of 49 patients are being treated in the ICU in six specialist hospitals, with a 114 per cent Covid-19 ICU bed occupancy rate (out of 43 designated Covid-19 ICU beds),” R.Vidyananthan said.
Out of 49 Covid-19 patients in the ICU, 39 of them (79.6 per cent) of them are on ventilator support.
“The constraint in opening more ICU beds is due to a lack of human resources and also at the same time, the high number of critically ill non-Covid-19 patients who also require intensive care in ICU at present.”
Today, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba announced that the government has offered another year of contract to 3,622 medical officers, dentists, and pharmacists as the Covid-19 epidemic is worsening.
Johor executive councillor Vidyananthan also pointed out that all 12 public hospitals in Johor are now functioning as Covid-19 hybrid hospitals.
Due to this, follow-up appointments for patients at specialist clinics have been reduced to 50 to 60 per cent.
“Patients are allowed to be present at the clinic 30 minutes before the fixed appointment time along with a caregiver (if needed),” the health and environment committee chairman added.
All elective surgeries have been postponed, except for cancer elective surgeries that have already been postponed from last year.
Visitors can only visit patients in the ward for emergency reasons only while Covid-19 screening and declaration for all visitors will be conducted.
Since January 10, the Johor government has set up Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) in stages to monitor Covid-19 patients who are quarantined at home.
“As of May 3, 2021, there are 11 CACs that are operating throughout the state and cumulatively, a total of 127,421 patients have visited CAC for the purpose of assessment — positive cases, close contacts, and other categories.”
Today, Johor reported 336 positive Covid-19 cases, fourth highest nationwide after Selangor (675 cases), Sarawak (620 cases), and Kuala Lumpur (408 cases).
