KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MoH) has increased the capacity and mobilisation of assets and human resources in ensuring the public health and medical system in Sabah continue to be sustainable in containing the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the effort included doubling the capacity of Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory tests and Antigen Rapid Test Kit (RTK Antigen) tests.
“In July, the RT-PCR test capacity in Sabah was 1,350 tests. It has since been increased to 2,600 RT-PCR tests a day with RT-PCR samples being sent daily to the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and the National Public Health Laboratory (MKAK) using the services of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) and Pos Laju.
“Outsourcing services to private laboratories are also being done, for example on Oct 16, a total of 4,327 tests were outsourced to private laboratories so that more screenings can continue to be conducted in the field,“ he said in an online media conference via MOH’s Facebook today.
In addition to this, bed capacity in nine Covid-19 hospitals, as well as 21 quarantine and low-risk treatment centres in Sabah, had also been increased 2.5 times, from 2,129 beds in early September to the current total of 5,414 beds. -Bernama
More to come
