MOH to intensify vaccination, medical operations in five states - Khairy
The Health Ministry will intensify its Covid-19 operations and vaccination drives in five states soon, according to newly minted Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.
The states - Sabah, Johor, Penang, Kedah, and Kelantan - would see more vaccines sent their way in the next few days...
The Health Ministry will intensify its Covid-19 operations and vaccination drives in five states soon, according to newly minted Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.
The states - Sabah, Johor, Penang, Kedah, and Kelantan - would see more vaccines sent their way in the next few days.
Khairy (above) told reporters that the ministry has also started shifting more manpower and equipment to the five states, aimed at bringing down the number of serious coronavirus cases and deaths.
"This is an effort to ensure the daily cases and number of citizens who have to be hospitalised, or suffering from serious symptoms, and death cases at the states mentioned can decrease," he said.
He was speaking in Putrajaya this evening, in his first press conference since being sworn in as health minister on Monday.
Prior to this, Khairy was the science, technology, and innovation minister in Muhyiddin Yassin's Perikatan Nasional cabinet, and at the same time was in charge of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).
Khairy said his new ministry decided that drastic measures are needed in the five states to urgently lower the number of cases there.
He said the idea to focus on particular states came from the ministry's experience with the Greater Klang Valley Task Force which was set up in July and saw success.
"The states would not only be receiving more vaccine supply, but we have also initiated the process to move Health Ministry manpower and assets their way, from other states which now need less number of resources."
Khairy said the ministry would also increase testing at states which have high positivity rates and low vaccination coverage.
He also encouraged employers to help by ramping up testing of their employees when they reopen their businesses, especially targeting those who are symptomatic.
'Help monitor patients on self-quarantine'
Meanwhile, he pointed to the recent high numbers of brought-in-dead (BID) Covid-19 cases, saying it would be another focus of the ministry.
They found some BID cases were initially in Category 1 and 2, but their health condition had deteriorated quickly.
In some cases, patients were found to have deteriorated in the span of 24 hours and ended up dying before they could get help at hospitals.
He called on all Covid-19 patients and their family members or housemates to pay close attention to their health situation when under home quarantine.
"We found that some were only in Category 1 and 2, but had deteriorated quickly to Covid-19 Category 5.
"(There was a) fast deterioration of their health condition.
"I want to call for all to do self-assessments and get help quickly if they see any sign of health deterioration," Khairy added.
Among the signs that patients and those who live with them should look out for include prolonged fever, coughs, vomiting, severe diarrhoea, difficulty breathing, loss of appetite, less urination, and if their lips or fingers turn bluish.
They are urged to immediately contact the nearest Covid-19 Assessment Centre or dial 999 for immediate attention.
