Minister: 50 additional critical-care beds set for SGH in October
KUCHING: An additional 50 critical-care beds would be delivered to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) in the middle of next month, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
According to him, there are 50 critical-care beds at the state hospital, and the ministry would increase the number to 100 next month.
“Of course, we will try to reduce the seriousness of any patient’s medical conditions, but we also need to plan for a surge in (the number of) critical-care patients, should such scenario actually occur,” he told reporters after conducting a visit to the SGH yesterday.
Khairy said it was crucial to increase critical-care capacity in existing hospitals, adding that the current strategy of community engagement in facing this Covid-19 pandemic, including encouraging healthseeking behaviour, was ‘the right way forward’.
He said with the society ‘learning to live with Covid-19’, they must still take it seriously even if they were experiencing only a fever or mild illnesses, unlike during the prepandemic times when people would not seek immediate medical attention for such conditions.
“If we’re experiencing any mild symptoms associated with Covid-19, we must assume that there’s a possibility that it’s the coronavirus infection, and not just a normal flu.”
In this regard, Khairy said the ministry hoped to encourage this health-seeking behaviour in the community and at the minimum, one should practise self-test for Covid-19 or seek medical advice at any health clinic.
He stressed that early testing and detection would go a long way towards reducing the number of new Covid-19 cases, as well as lowering the likelihood of cases moving from Category 1 to categories 3, 4 or 5, which exhibited more severe symptoms of coronavirus infection.
Khairy added that with early detection, a Covid-19 patient could be quickly isolated, allowing for immediate tracing of any close-contact to the break the chain of transmission.
Meanwhile, the federal minister visited the daycare centre, the pathology department, the blood bank and the field hospital during his visit to SGH yesterday.
Accompanying him were his deputy Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang, the ministry’s secretary-general Dato Mohd Shafiq Abdullah, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, State Disaster Management Committee advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian who is the state’s Local Government and Housing Minister, Health Department Sarawak director Dato Dr Mohamed Sapian Mohamed, and SGH director Dr Ngian Hie Ung.