KOTA KINABALU: The government should allocate a budget to utilise hotels as temporary isolation treatment centres in the state, Sabah Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA) said today.
SHAREDA deputy president Datuk Chua Soon Ping said the measure could alleviate the heavy utilisation of hospital beds in Sabah which currently stood at 95 per cent.
Chua said a budget should also be allocated to stock-up personal protective equipment (PPE) and support struggling restaurants by utilising them into quarantine caterers.
"The budget will not only support the hotels but the catering industry as well after being hit hard by the epidemic.
"It can also help to reduce the burden on hospitals to allow timely treatment for patients," Chan said in a statement today, adding that the government should strike a balance between the fight against the pandemic and the economy.
In a recent Facebook live session hosted by Property Hunter, it is also announced SHAREDA and developer group Bay Suites had donated RM40,000 and RM28,000 respectively to Sabah's Malaysia Medical Association.
The donations were made to prevent shortages of PPE and the necessary services needed to contain Covid-19.
To date, the Sabah government had distributed 90,741 food baskets worth RM100 each statewide.
Meanwhile, when contacted State Community Development and People's Well Being Minister Shahelmy Yahya denied allegations by a news portal that the state government had spent RM366 for each basket.
The portal had taken into consideration when the state announced an RM26.7 million budget spent on food aid, divided by 77,396 distributed baskets on Oct 23.
"The 77,396 baskets were the number of those being distributed on that day. There are still packed foods that have yet to be given out.
"The (portal's) calculation is incorrect."
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