SHAH ALAM – Selangor’s Health Department is holding engagement sessions with private hospitals and clinics to overcome the problem of late reporting of Covid-19 cases.
Its director, Datuk Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman, said this is more effective compared with imposing fines on private hospitals and clinics for late reporting of test results.
It was earlier reported that the spike in new Covid-19 cases is due to late reporting of cases to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC).
The rise in Selangor was also attributed to private hospitals and clinics not reporting positive cases on the same day through the Public Health Laboratory Information System (Simka).
“We need cooperation from the private hospitals and clinics to curb the spread of the viral infection. Currently, the number of late reported cases has dropped due to the positive measure taken, as cooperation from all parties is vital compared with enforcement.
“However, if the problem (late reporting of cases) still occurs, we will not hesitate to take action under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988,” he said after observing the first-day operation of the Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) at Malawati Stadium here today.
Present was Public Health, Unity and Women and Family Development exco Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud.
On the CAC at Malawati Stadium, Dr Sha’ari said 80 staff from the Petaling District Health Office are on duty each day to assess Covid-19 patients.
“This CAC can handle 1,500 patients per day. Based on the appointments made today, about 1,000 patients will come here and we expect another 300 to come as walk-in patients,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Mariah said the state government and Health Ministry had discussed implementing measures to ease reporting of Covid-19 cases by private hospitals and clinics.
“We are working on making it compulsory for private hospitals and clinics that conduct Covid-19 screenings to use the Selangkah application, where the test results can be uploaded directly to Simka. However, this effort involves many parties and we are still discussing it,” she said. – Bernama, February 8, 2021
