Fed govt urged to deploy more resources to assist Sabah health workers

 By Olivia Miwil - August 23, 2021 @ 11:24am

Kota Kinabalu member of parliament Chan Foong Hin (second right) handing over two tents to Luyang Health Clinic to isolate and screen Covid-19 patients. - Pic courtesy Chan Foong Hin.

KOTA KINABALU: More healthcare personnel and resources from other states should be deployed to Sabah, said Kota Kinabalu member of parliament Chan Foong Hin.

He said healthcare system in the state was on the brink of collapse due to being overwhelmed and severely understaffed following the surge in Covid-19 patients.

"The Covid-19 pandemic is raging and the people in Sabah have been hit hard, especially the past few days.

"There were 2,651 new Covid-19 cases in Sabah yesterday (on Saturday), and out of them, 1,418 were recorded in the four districts of Greater Kota Kinabalu, namely the districts of Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Putatan, and Tuaran. This amounts to more than half of all cases.

"Having 1,418 cases basically translates to one person getting infected with Covid-19 almost every single minute in greater Kota Kinabalu," he said in a statement.

The Sabah DAP secretary said medical experts had long predicted that the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah will remain at its peak over the next eight weeks.

"There are 1,258 beds in Sabah's Covid-19 Hospital, and the utilisation rate has already exceeded 99%.

"In other words, we have reached a stage where if you were to suffer from Covid-19, there may not be a bed in the hospital for you. Asymptomatic patients with Covid-19 can only be isolated at home," said Chan

"It is certainly a race against time between vaccinations and the coronavirus infecting new patients. It is only after the vaccination rate reaches a considerable proportion of the population can the graph of transmission be suppressed.

Meanwhile, he said though the Luyang Health Clinic near here, was not a Covid-19 treatment centre, many patients with Covid-19 symptoms had attended the clinic for consultation over the past two weeks.

"As informed, there are between 30 to 50 patients almost every day suspected of carrying Covid-19.

"Therefore, to further distinguish between suspected Covid-19 patients and the general public, the clinic had to conduct more stringent screening."

After learning of the situation, Chan also arranged for two tents to help with the clinic operation to isolate patients with suspected Covid-19 and to have separate waiting areas for other general patients to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.