As system buckles, MOH mulls keeping Covid-19 patients at home, hotels

COVID-19 | Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has admitted that the alarming quarantine conditions faced by low-risk Covid-19 patients are due to an overstressed healthcare system.

As beds at quarantine centres fill up, he said the ministry is now considering keeping patients with no or mild symptoms either at home or at hotels.

Migrant workers, meanwhile, will be placed in government quarantine centres.

Several Covid-19 patients previously told Malaysiakini that they suffered diarrhoea after consuming food served at a quarantine centre.

They also raised concerns about dirty bathrooms and the lack of attention paid to patients.

Asked about these concerns today, Noor Hisham acknowledged them and said the ministry will work on improving such conditions.

“When the cases increase... obviously the quality of care will deteriorate. A few centres have been reported (to have problems) in terms of the food, services, and hygiene, etc.

“Nonetheless, this is a very challenging time for the ministry to manage a large number of patients but we are not doing it by ourselves, we are working closely with the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the National Security Council (NSC).

“So we hope we can improve the situation. Certainly, we can but give us time for us to look into the logistics,” he said.

The top health official shared that the ministry was studying whether it was possible to have asymptomatic Covid-19 patients quarantine themselves at home.

A second alternative was to place asymptomatic patients (Category 1) and those with mild symptoms (Category 2) at other quarantine centres like hotels.

“We discussed during the NSC meeting earlier whether we can work with Nadma and NSC to place patients with no symptoms or mild symptoms at quarantine centres.

“We quarantine Malaysian returnees who test negative (at hotels). We are considering whether we can place positive cases - Malaysian nationals and those who are able to pay, at hotels for their quarantine periods,” he said.

The mandatory quarantine period for Covid-19 positive patients is 10 days.

Existing government quarantine centres like the Health Ministry Training Institute (ILKKM) in Sungai Buloh, meanwhile, could be used to quarantine foreign nationals, including migrant workers, who test positive.

“Maybe the centres will be used to quarantine foreign workers who do not have suitable places to be isolated in.

“This is a priority that we discussed and might implement,” Noor Hisham said.  

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