CORONAVIRUS | The Covid-19 Low-Risk Patient Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) in Serdang is expected to receive patients next week.

Mardi Corp Group chief executive officer Zaidi Shahrim, however, said so far, it had no information on the exact date when the authorities would send the Covid-19 patients there for quarantine.

“MAEPS will receive low-risk Covid-19 patients from around the Klang Valley, Melaka and several areas in Perak,” he said in an interview via Skype that broadcast live on Bernama 7.45.

On the challenges faced throughout the process of transforming MAEPS into a quarantine centre in just a short period of time, Zaidi said it was difficult to get supplies from contractors as many were 'bound' by the movement control order (MCO).

“We received the instruction during the first phase of the MCO but Alhamdulillah, with the close cooperation between various government agencies such as the Ministry of Health (MOH), NADMA (the National Disaster Management Agency), the Fire and Rescue Department and private companies, we managed to realise it within four days,” he added.

Zaidi said MAEPS is equipped with hospital-like facilities such as beds, bathrooms, dressing room, toilet, lounge and so on.

Among the services provided at the centre are clinical services, ward for Covid-19 patients, resuscitation rooms to stabilise patients in emergency situations, ambulance, pharmacy, X-ray, and pathology laboratory services.

The quarantine centre which has the capacity to place up to 600 patients at any one time is coordinated by Nadma with the cooperation of the MOH, the Malaysian Armed Forces, the Fire and Rescue Department, the Civil Defence Force, the Social Welfare Department and the Public Works Department.

- Bernama