KUALA LUMPUR – Hours before the total lockdown, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has unveiled the RM40 billion Pemerkasa Plus assistance package, of which RM1 billion goes into boosting the capacity of the public healthcare system amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Of the RM1 billion, Muhyiddin said, RM450 million will be used to increase bed capacity and purchase equipment for intensive care units in field army hospitals, as well as hospitals under the purview of the Health Ministry and teaching hospitals run by UiTM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia.
He said outsourcing will involve private hospitals, adding that the RM450 million includes the RM200 million announced by the finance minister on May 22.
The remaining RM550 million will be allocated to Covid-19-related agencies to pay for an increase in operational and management costs, such as reagents used in screening, medicines and contract workers, as well as keeping open quarantine centres at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang in Selangor and in other states.
This allocation will also be used to extend contracts of more than 14,000 medical officers and nurses to next year, and the rehiring of 500 health personnel who were supposed to retire.
Muhyiddin announced the assistance package in a special televised address tonight. – The Vibes, May 31, 2021
