ICUs at Covid-19 hospitals running out of beds, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has sounded the alarm as government hospitals around the Klang Valley are running out of beds at intensive care units (ICUs) to treat critical Covid-19 cases.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that one of the hospitals - Hospital Sungai Buloh - has seen more than 20 case referrals to the ICU daily in the past one week, adding that the hospital is almost running out of beds.

“63 ICU patients, with more than 25 critically ill patients to be reviewed in the general ward and emergency department and more than 20 case referrals to ICU daily in the past one week in Sungai Buloh Hospital, ” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday (May 2).

Dr Noor Hisham added that Hospital Sungai Buloh, which has been fully dedicated to treating Covid-19 cases, will be increasing its ICU and critical treatment bed capacity in phases to keep up with the rising number of cases.

He said the Health Ministry started procuring equipment such as ventilators last year to enable the hospital to increase its capacity when needed.

Menurut statistik yang dilaporkan kepada CPRC Kebangsaan, kadar penggunaan katil rawatan kritikal / ICU COVID-19 terkini... Posted by Noor Hisham Abdullah on Saturday, 1 May 2021

In a series of posts, Dr Noor Hisham explained how the public health care system is struggling to manage the load of critical Covid-19 cases.

He said six hospitals which allocated beds at ICUs and critical treatment centres to treat Covid-19 patients have already hit the alert threshold.

“Hospital Sungai Buloh, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Hospital Ampang, Hospital Serdang, Hospital Selayang and Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah are already over 70% capacity with some of them almost hitting 100%," he said.

“At Universiti Malaya Medical Centre’s ICU capacity, ICU bed capacity is now over 50%, ” added Dr Noor Hisham.

He said hospitals in the Klang Valley were also forced to reduce or postpone surgeries and other elective procedures to prioritise treatment for Covid-19 patients.

Dr Noor Hisham said the move would also enable healthcare workers to be mobilised to critical areas to treat Covid-19 cases.

“The Health Ministry will be working with the private sector to increase bed capacity for critical patients. We will also seek their services to treat non-Covid-19 patients at private hospitals where the cost will be borne by the government at an agreed rate, ” he said, adding that the move has been in place since the second wave of infections hit last year.

Dr Noor Hisham continued to remind the public to strictly follow standard operating procedure to curb infections.

“100% compliance is crucial for the country to get back on its feet, ” he said.