Ventilator that caught fire in HQE 2 was a new machine, says Health DG
The ventilator that caught fire at Hospital Queen Elizabeth 2 (HQE 2) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, earlier today was a new machine procured this year, according to the Health Ministry.
Its director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told reporters today that he believes the incident did not have anything to do with the issue of old equipment...
The ventilator that caught fire at Hospital Queen Elizabeth 2 (HQE 2) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, earlier today was a new machine procured this year, according to the Health Ministry.
Its director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told reporters today that he believes the incident did not have anything to do with the issue of old equipment.
"I have yet to receive a full report on this. But this may be not about the ventilator.
"Because we have 1,556 ventilators, and the capacity of usage now is only about 100. So we still have the capacity.
"And this ventilator we had procured only recently, during the second wave (of the Covid-19 pandemic)," he said.
Noor Hisham was commenting on the incident that occurred at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of HQE 2 this afternoon, where a ventilator suddenly caught fire while it was in use by a patient.
Prompt action by nurses who doused the fire with an extinguisher and turned off the oxygen supply managed to prevent the event from turning worse.
In April, Noor Hisham had said that the government is procuring 956 more ventilators to prepare for the pandemic.
Meanwhile, during the press conference, Noor Hisham was also asked about the ministry going into Phase III trial on a vaccine developed by Beijing-based Institute of Medical Biology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS).
The matter was first announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last month, where he said that it is part of a government-to-government agreement with China.
According to Noor Hisham, the trial would involve some 3,000 individuals.
"At the moment, our National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) is looking into the safety profile of the vaccine before they can authorize a Clinical Trial Import License (CTIL), which is a license required to bring in a pharmaceutical product for clinical trial.
"The study protocol has been deliberated by the Medical Research Ethical Committee (MREC) and they will reconvene on Dec 10, before deciding to approve the protocol. This is to ensure that the study will be conducted within the law and research ethics," he said.
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