KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) is short of 30 doctors, 100 paramedics, and some equipment to build more field hospitals in helping the government tackle the current Covid-19 crisis, Senior Minister for Defence Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.
Ismail Sabri told a press conference today that the army can build at least two more field hospitals to complement the existing ones operating around the country.
He said the field hospitals would help the country handle non-Covid-19 cases, adding that ATM had previously set up a facility at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, which had some 8,000 beds, as well as at Pokok Sena in Kedah and Tawau in Sabah.
He said the army is currently running field hospitals at Kapit in Sarawak and Kepala Batas in Penang, besides the ones at Pokok Sena and Tawau.
“I was informed earlier that the problem faced by our side is that we have insufficient doctors and paramedics and a shortage of equipment,” he said.
“If we get additional equipment and more doctors, nurses, and paramedics, we can build more field hospitals.”
Ismail Sabri said this after holding a meeting with ATM’s health services division director-general Datuk Pahlawan Md Amin Muslan earlier this afternoon.
He added that four field hospitals currently make the maximum capacity at which the army can run at any given time, and that the additional doctors and paramedics would allow it to add more facilities if needed.
“God willing, we at ATM’s health services division are ready to help the government build more field hospitals.”
Ismail Sabri said the armed forces will be making a request to the government for assistance. There is concern that there will be a shortage of medical staff at existing facilities if they are deployed to field hospitals.
“We are ready to take them in under contract. What’s important is that this needs to be expedited,” he said.
On another matter, Ismail Sabri was asked whether the Malaysian government would be sending armed forces to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestine, which is under fire due to battle with Israel.
Ismail Sabri said Malaysia had sent its security forces under agreements with the United Nations, citing deployments in Lebanon as an example.
“We cannot independently send our army overseas because this involves international laws and so on, but if the UN requires countries like Malaysia to send their armed forces – under existing agreements – as peacekeepers, God willing, we will send them.
“But this must be determined by the UN. Malaysia cannot make a unilateral decision to do so as it must be under the invitation of the UN and its charters, and not of our own volition,” he said. – The Vibes, May 17, 2021
