GEORGE TOWN – Penang is mulling enforcing an emergency law that will allow health authorities to compel all private hospitals in the state to accept serious Covid-19 cases as they possess the proper and necessary equipment to treat these patients.
Penang health exco Dr Norlela Ariffin told the press that the state is seriously looking into this proposition, although she refrained from discussing the treatment costs.
Nine hospitals in the state are equipped with ventilators and isolation wards suitable for patients listed under categories 3, 4, and 5 in terms of Covid-19 severity.
Penang is battling its strongest surge in Covid-19 cases yet, with 1,961 cases reported today, bringing the total accumulated number to 95,098 cases since January last year.
Dr Norlela said in a special webinar session that Penang’s public hospitals are struggling to cope with severe Covid-19 cases, as they need to have adequate oxygen tanks, intubation equipment, as well as ventilators.
“Now they are only taking in 5% of the total Covid-19 patients, and they are only taking in patients under categories 1 and 2,” she told journalists here.
Dr Norlela said she wants private hospitals to take in 30% more for those under categories 3, 4 and 5, which are patients suffering from pneumonia and breathing difficulties.
She also revealed that more than 7,000 patients in categories 1 and 2 are self-quarantining at home as the centres have limited capacity.
At the same time, hoteliers are reluctant to convert their facilities into quarantine centres because the tourism sector is expected to reopen in stages from this month onwards.
Today, over 60% of those registered under MySejahtera have received both jabs.
Meanwhile, doctors at Penang Hospital shared that people are willing to seek treatment at private hospitals but the owners of such facilities must be willing to subsidise the costs.
It would be awful to charge them market rates during the height of the pandemic, they said.
Also, a check at hotels and restaurants have revealed that there is no take-up rate for those who are fully vaccinated to dine-in at such facilities.
The response has been largely muted, especially with the growing concern that even those who have been inoculated are still susceptible to the Delta variant.
There is a growing concern among the public that those who are vaccinated are also getting infected, particularly from the stealthy Delta variant. – The Vibes, September 5, 2021
