MP: Give old folks in Sibu nursing homes priority for vaccine allocation

SIBU: The government should immediately look into ways to allocate vaccines for the old folks in nursing homes here, Lanang MP Oscar Ling said.

Being one of the vulnerable groups, he added, they should be given priority for the vaccination.

“That unfortunately is not the case here and though we are in Phase 3 of our vaccination programme, the old folks under nursing care still have not been vaccinated,” he said in a statement yesterday, adding this had raised fear and concern among the medical frontliners.

Ling pointed out that the old folks at nursing homes in Kuching had already been given the vaccines but not in Sibu.

“The government seems to never learn from past mistakes. Do not sideline the nursing homes in Sibu which is one of the worst hit areas in Sarawak at the moment.”

He said the admissions to hospitals had reached 200 on Monday and “we are already facing shortage of beds to accommodate more patients”.

Ling recalled that at the beginning of the outbreak of Pasai Siong cluster early this year, the nursing homes here contributed to two clusters.

“Many people died. Surely, we cannot afford to have another nursing homes cluster.”

Ling said the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in the central zone, especially Selangau, brought fear and worries as Selangau patients would be

The government seems to never learn from past mistakes. Do not sideline the nursing homes in Sibu which is one of the worst hit areas in Sarawak at the moment. Oscar Ling

transferred to Sibu hospital for treatment.

“The Sibu Hospital is already reaching the maximum capacity and if there is another round of nursing homes outbreak, we might face shortage of ICU beds or even normal wards to put them.”