KOTA KINABALU – The Health Ministry will no longer repeat the same mistake it made in handling the surge of Covid-19 cases in Sabah, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) today.
Admitting that there was a shortage of oxygen supplies and lack of hospital beds, he said action has been taken to deal with the situation in Sabah.
“The ministry had on September 7 sent in 480 oxygen cylinders and 48 oxygen regulators to meet the needs in Sabah for the time being.
“However, I understand that when cases surge in Sabah, there is also the lack of beds and beds equipped with oxygen facilities.
“For this, we are sending additional equipment,” he said in response to a supplementary question posed by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Semporna-Warisan).
Shafie had questioned the lack of oxygen supplies for patients and instances of people aged 60 and above in need of oxygen being turned away by hospitals to give way for younger individuals.
Khairy said he had been to Tawau during a recent two-day working visit to Sabah and identified a site for a field hospital.
“We will equip the field hospital in Tawau with 100 beds and also enough oxygen facilities. Learning from what I have witnessed in Sabah, I can see there will be states that will experience a surge in cases and a need for piped-in oxygen.
“For this, we will establish rapid deployment units whereby modular intensive care units can be sent to states experiencing spikes in cases and in need of piped-in oxygen facilities, and those dealing with variants of concern.” – The Vibes, September 14, 2021
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