Covid-19 patients occupy nearly 80pct of Sabahs' ICU beds

 By Olivia Miwil - January 18, 2021 @ 9:21pm

KOTA KINABALU: Seventy-nine per cent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Sabah hospitals are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

State Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said despite this, the Health Ministry will do its best to accommodate and provide the best healthcare for the people.

"There are two major hospitals in Kota Kinabalu, one has 36 ICU beds and the other has six beds; Tawau has 32; Sandakan 18; Lahad Datu 13; and Keningau 10.

"There are 115 ICU beds in total and 91 patients are being treated at ICUs to date, with 23 of them needing ventilators," he said in a virtual press conference.

Sabah recorded 432 new Covid-19 cases on Monday. A total of 794 people are being treated at hospitals, and 2,112 are at low-risk treatment centres.

The overall bed occupancy rate is at 42.91 per cent for all hospitals, treatment centres as well as temporary detention centres or prisons.

To date, Sabah has recorded 302 Covid-19 fatalities, with the latest death involving a 77-year-old man with multiple medical conditions, who died at the Queen Elizabeth hospital here on Monday.

Two clusters were identified on Monday: the Kompleks Segahama cluster, involving 58 Covid-19 positive cases among palm oil workers in Kinabatangan; and the Jalan Bukit Bendera Cluster, involving 20 workers at a public institution in Kota Kinabalu, Papar, and Beaufort.

On private and public hospitals in Sabah cooperating to manage Covid-19 patients, Masidi said there has been positive development as reported during a National Security Council meeting at the federal level.

"However, this matter is more relevant (now) in West Malaysia, as hospitals in the Klang Valley have nearly run out of beds. There are also more private hospitals in the Klang Valley than in Sabah.

"In Sabah, there are only a handful of private hospitals. So far, the public hospitals here can still cope," he said, adding that he hopes the number of cases in Sabah would not spike.

It was reported last week that under the new emergency rules, private hospitals may face a fine of up to RM5 million or even jail time should they refuse to take in Category 1 and 2 Covid-19 patients.