New quarantine and treatment centre in Labuan to accommodate Covid-19 patients, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: A new low-risk quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC) has been set up to accommodate the growing number of positive Covid-19 patients in Labuan, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health director-general said the Dewan Perbadanan Labuan is now converted into a PKRC with 140 beds, bringing the total bed capacity in Labuan to 317 beds.

“The centre is fully operational on Thursday (Oct 29),” he said in a statement here.

To accommodate the growing positive case treatment capacity in Labuan, Dr Noor Hisham said the Labuan Health Department had earlier increased its PKRC capacity through several phases.

Between January and March under the first phase, he said visitor homes and wellness centres were made as PKRC with a capacity of 16 beds.

“Between March and September in the second phase, the space at Labuan Hospital was maximised with an additional 105 beds.

“For Phase 3 between September and October, we had negotiations and used an external facility, the Education Department’s Technology division as PKRC with another 56 beds, making the total bed capacity at 177 beds,” he said.

He said that the opening of PKRC at Dewan Perbadanan Labuan was the result of the cooperation of all parties including the National Security Council, the police, Perbadanan Labuan and other groups and agencies in Labuan.

They included the Taiwan Buddist Tzu-Chi Foundation Malaysia, the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) and several other contributors, enabling the setting up of this treatment centre in 24 hours.