Situation at HTAR manageable

KLANG: There are more than a dozen Covid-19 patients admitted to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) here as of yesterday, but the situation is still manageable and not serious, says its director Dr Zulkarnain Mohd Rawi.

He said there were 14 Covid-19 admissions, with the majority falling under Category 4.

There is one patient under Category 1, two under Category 2, three under Category 3, seven under Category 4, and one under Category 5.

Category 1 is the least severe, where the patient is infected but does not display symptoms, while a Category 5 patient needs to be intubated and put on a ventilator.

“All the patients have various comorbidities and are above the age of 40,” said Dr Zulkarnain when contacted.

This comes after the Health Ministry said recently that there was an 87.5% increase in Covid-19 cases up to April 8, with hospital admissions seeing an increase of 30.5%.

Dr Zulkarnain said those who did not have any comorbidities and under the age of 40 could manage by themselves as infections were not as severe as they used to be.

“As they have all been vaccinated, they are able to recover fast, but it’s the people with comorbidities who need medical intervention at hospitals.

“My advice to people in this category would be for them to be extra cautious when venturing out, as well as to take the necessary precautions,” he added.

Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said there had also been an increase in Covid-19 patients coming to private medical establishments.

“Most of these patients had only mild symptoms, while some did not even know they had been infected until they were tested.

“Many suffer from Covid-19 symptoms, but believe that it’s not Covid-19 because they feel that it has gone away,” he said.

Dr Kuljit said there were also people who had their own concept of “living with Covid-19” and did not mask up, test for infection, practise stringent sanitation or observe appropriate physical distancing.

“All governments in the world have not mandated any of the above with the expectation that the public will take necessary precautions from what we have learnt, but unfortunately, not all are doing the right thing,” he said.