KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 221 hospitals are treating Covid-19 positive patients nationwide, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Adham Baba told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said a total of 104 public hospitals out of 146 , six university hospitals, 112 private hospitals and one Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) hospital are dedicated to dealing with daily Covid-19 cases.
A total of 16, 1117 daily infections were reported today according to the Health Ministry (MoH) earlier.
Adham pointed out that a total of 11 public hospitals have been classified as full Covid-19 facilities while the remaining are treating patients with other illnesses.
To bolster the healthcare capacity, Adham said his ministry will increase the capacity of Covid-19 treatment beds in public hospitals to manage the surge in the daily number of cases.
To date, the number of non-intensive care unit (ICU) beds in 221 hospitals nationwide increased to 373% where 15,090 beds accounted for public hospitals compared to only 4,395 in March last year.
Meanwhile, there was a 485% increase in ICU beds from to a total of 1,533 in ICU wards at public hospitals and 128 in private hospitals compared to the same period last year.
“There are plans also to renovate certain areas inside and outside of the hospital building to be used as temporary wards and ICUs as well as the construction of field hospitals, field ICUs , modular ICUs and the use of ICUs in private hospitals,” he said in his briefing on the second day of the special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat.
“So far, three modular ICUs have been prepared and are operational at Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Kepala Batas Hospital and Melaka Hospital. To accommodate the increase in Covid-19 cases, especially categories four and five, the ministry has added five more modular ICUs in several hospitals with cases,“ he said.
“Besides the provision of facilities, medical equipment such as patient beds, ICU beds, 2,468 units of ventilators with a utilisation rate of 60%, patient monitors and so forth will also be upgraded to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic,“ he said.
