M’sian field hospital helps control virus in Bangladesh

KUALA LUMPUR: A medical team at the Armed Forces Malaysian field hospital in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, has been entrusted to strategise a plan to control the spread of Covid-19 among the ethnic Rohingya.

Op Starlight 4 commander, Kol Dr Shahril Nizam Abd Jalil, is working with the country’s health team to monitor and take necessary preventive measures.

“So far, there have been no Covid-19 cases at Cox’s Bazar but the medical team is always ready with plans to control any outbreak.

“We have been working with the local health team and thank god, so far, no case has been reported,” he told reporters after a ceremony to fete the return of the Op Starlight 4 Team at Wisma Perwira yesterday.

Earlier, Chief of Defence Force chief Jen Tan Sri Affendi Buang was reported to have said that the operation of the hospital in Bangladesh would be extended until the end of next year.

Affendi said the decision has been approved by the government as the hospital has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as the best, most well-equipped and most trusted Level 3 field hospital in Cox’s Bazar.

The hospital was operational at the end of 2017 after an influx of more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh as a result of Myanmar’s bloody military operation in northern Rakhine.

To date, the hospital has treated over 97,000 patients and performed over 3,520 surgeries that have saved thousands of lives. – Bernama