KUALA LUMPUR, August 6 — Despite the increased number of beds, four fully designated Covid-19 hospitals in Selangor are nearing full capacity amid Klang Valley’s unrelenting epidemic, recording more than 32,000 new cases since Wednesday.
According to a Ministry of Health (MOH) report on Selangor’s epidemic released to the press today, Ampang and Serdang Hospitals have already reached 100 per cent ICU bed occupancy rate, while Sungai Buloh and Selayang Hospitals’ ICUs are currently at 96 per cent and 98 per cent respectively.
In terms of total hospital beds, including ICU beds, Sungai Buloh and Serdang Hospitals currently record 87 per cent bed occupancy rates, slightly higher than Ampang and Selayang Hospitals’ 85 per cent.
Sungai Buloh Hospital has 1,602 Covid-19 beds as of today, a 22.2 per cent addition of 291 beds from February this year from an initial 1,311 beds.
Previously, Ampang Hospital could only accommodate 701 beds but it was designated a full Covid-19 hospital on June 23. Then, the hospital capacity was increased to 813 operational beds as of July 15.
Until August 5, Ampang Hospital has prepared 640 operational beds for Covid-19 patients including ICU beds. The hospital has increased almost five fold ICU beds — from seven beds in January to 34 beds now.
After Ampang Hospital was designated a full Covid-19 hospital in Selangor, 85 per cent of the hospital’s 640 Covid-19 beds were occupied.
As of August 5, Selayang Hospital, the third full Covid-19 hospital in Selangor, has also increased seven times more ICU beds (51) than its earlier capacity of seven beds on January 31.
Selayang Hospital has a capacity of 1,047 beds and as of August 5, the health care facility has 900 beds allocated for Covid-19 patients so far.
Serdang Hospital, the final full Covid-19 hospital in the state, has a capacity of 838 beds as of August 5, where currently the hospital has 658 beds specifically for Covid-19 patients.
MOH did not reveal the Covid-19 bed occupancy rate as well as ICU bed occupancy rate in several other Covid-19 hybrid hospitals in Selangor. That includes Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang, Kajang and Banting Hospitals.
HTAR (743 beds), Kajang (171 beds) and Banting (154 beds) Hospitals however designated a total of 1,068 beds for Covid-19 patients in Selangor, the epicentre of the virus.
“For Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang, Kajang and Banting Hospitals, bed capacity to accommodate Covid-19 patients has also been increased up to 10 to 20 per cent for each hospital,” MOH said in its report.
“In addition, non-specialist hospitals have also made preparations to receive non-Covid-19 patients from specialist hospitals to ensure beds are available for Covid-19 patients in specialist hospitals.”
According to MOH, Covid-19 integrated quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC) 2.0 at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) have also been supplied 3,000 oxygen cylinders to enable it to treat Covid-19 patients from Category One to Four.
Microfilling oxygen has been placed in Maeps PKRC and eight units of microvalve oxygen bulk have been supplied to hospitals.
“All oxygen supplies are stabilised with a regulator,” said MOH.
“All the 27 Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) in each district in Selangor have been equipped with defibrillators, electrocardiography (ECG) machines, beds, and oxygen concentrators.”
