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PUTRAJAYA: Sabah’s health system is not collapsing as the total occupancy of hospital beds in the state is still sufficient to treat Covid-19 patients, says Health Director General Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Dr Noor Hisham said he did not understand why there was a negative perception of the situation in Sabah, adding that the facts and figures were different from what is perceived.
“It is not true that the health system in Sabah is collapsing, but we admit that it is more difficult and more challenging.
“However, this time we are more prepared than before in terms of human resources, facilities, PPE (personal protective equipment) and others. We started the preparation much earlier by sending our human resources internally and from other states to help Sabah,” he said . during their daily press conference on Monday (October 26).
Dr Noor Hisham said that currently, with a total of 5,713 beds available in the state, only 33% were being used, although initially, bed occupancy was high, 70% to 80%.
He added that 69% of the 128 beds in intensive care units (ICUs) were used alone, while 33% of the 193 supportive ventilators were used.
“We are also exploring more space in the nine hospitals (designated Covid-19), so that we can convert the space into ICU spaces where we can treat more stage four patients,” he said.
On October 22, the Borneo Post reported that Sabah hospital beds were 99.5% full, adding that the state government was also forced to decide who to admit to the hospital.
Dr Noor Hisham said that personal protective equipment, ventilators and beds in Sabah have been increased to accommodate increasing cases, adding that emergency purchases have also been made for the state.
He said the most important thing at this time was “better coordination” in the state, where the ministry works closely with the police, the military, the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and other government agencies.
“This is what we need in Sabah. Hopefully coordination in the state is further improved so that we can win this war. We have not lost the war, nor have we won it,” he said.
Dr. Noor Hisham estimated that it would be another four weeks before the virus could be contained in Sabah.
Since most of the recent Covid-19 deaths come from Sabah, Dr. Noor Hisham said this was because the majority were mainly elderly patients who likely had lower immunity and those who had other diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
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