GEORGE TOWN – Sg Buloh Hospital has been identified as a referral centre to treat and rehabilitate patients who suffer from long-term Covid-19 symptoms, Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced today.
The hospital will treat patients who continue to struggle with the remnants of the virus in their bodies. He said long-term effects have been found to remain for a duration of between three to six months in Malaysia.
He said this at a press conference after delivering a public lecture on Steeling Against the Omicron Storm – Is Malaysia Prepared? at the Penang Institute here today.
The event also saw Noor Hisham being presented with the inaugural Dr Wu Lien-Teh Award for Leadership in Public Health 2022. It was presented to him by Datuk Seri Anwar Fazal, president of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society.
Penang-born Wu, who famously served as a pneumonic plague fighter in China, invented the face mask that is said to be a precursor to the N95 mask used today to protect against Covid-19.
According to the World Health Organisation, some of the most common symptoms of post-Covid-19 conditions include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction, which people call brain fog.
However, there are more than 200 symptoms that have been reported.
Other symptoms that patients may experience include chest pain, speaking problems, anxiety or depression, muscle aches, fever, loss of smell and loss of taste.
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said that the touted anti-parasite Ivermectin has been proven in local clinical studies to be inconsistent in preventing Covid-19 sufferers from slipping into Categories 3, 4 or 5, which are the most critical stages of the virus.
He said the clinical study by Malaysia has gained recognition overseas including in the American Medical Journal, as among the main referral studies in the world on the effects of Ivermectin on Covid-19 patients.
He also said that the lateness in reopening the international borders will help Malaysia learn from the mistakes seen in other nations in mitigating the flow of inbound and outbound travellers.
Meanwhile, Penang today saw the third highest number of new infections at 2,349 in the country, after Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
The state also recorded 12 new deaths, bringing the total deceased due to the virus to 1,865. – The Vibes, March 13, 2022
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