MOH opens makeshift wards in Sabah to face rising Covid-19 cases
COVID-19 | The Health Ministry has set up makeshift hospital wards across six districts in Sabah to brace the increasing number of coronavirus cases there, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Speaking via Facebook Live today, the Health director-general announced that the wards were opened in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Lahad Datu, and Sandakan to back up hospitals that have been designated to treat Covid-19 patients in the districts...
COVID-19 | The Health Ministry has set up makeshift hospital wards across six districts in Sabah to brace the increasing number of coronavirus cases there, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Speaking via Facebook Live today, the Health director-general announced that the wards were opened in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Lahad Datu, and Sandakan to back up hospitals that have been designated to treat Covid-19 patients in the districts.
For Semporna and Kunak, the ministry has shifted a low-cost flat and a religious school hostel to be used for all Covid-19 cases there.
"The total bed capacity at six MOH hospitals and 10 Low-Risk Covid-19 Treatment and Quarantine Centres are 710 and 1,886 respectively," Noor Hisham said.
The six hospitals are Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Women and Children Hospital, Tawau Hospital, Lahad Datu Hospital, Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan, and Keningau Hospital.
According to Noor Hisham, the ministry had shifted the Likas Sports Complex Building in Kota Kinabalu to serve as additional wards for QEH, while for Tawau Hospital, they are using the Tawau Sports Complex, Tawau Arena Hall, Tawau Prison Complex, and a MOH Training Institute in the district.
In Lahad Datu, the makeshift wards are opened at Dewan Tun Haji Mustapha, while in Sandakan, it is located at Dewan Rafflesia in PPR Batu Putih.
"We have also opened the PPR Bubul Ria in Semporna to place Covid-19 cases. For Kunak district, we are using the hostel of a religious school to treat the cases there," he said.
Besides providing more beds, the ministry is also sending additional assets and reinforcement of medical specialists, doctors, medical assistants and nurses to beef up Covid-19 operations in Sabah.
On Covid-19 detection tests capacity, Noor Hisham said available laboratories in the state can process up to 2,500 samples daily.
The ministry is also working on setting up a modular lab in Tawau as a temporary measure until a complete molecular lab can be built at Tawau Hospital.
They have also received several point-of-care testing machines from the World Health Organization. These machines had been sent to several hospitals in Sabah.
Noor Hisham said an additional 15,000 antigen Rapid Test Kit had also been sent to the state today with the assistance of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.
Malaysiakini is providing free access to the most important updates on the coronavirus pandemic. You can find them here.
Help keep independent media alive - subscribe to Malaysiakini.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.