KUCHING, Aug 7: The installation of 36 oxygen points at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and the plans to add another 67 intensive care unit (ICU) beds to government hospitals will equip and position public healthcare facilities in Sarawak to effectively handle the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister for Local Government and Housing Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian informed that a RM1.3 million contract for the installation of oxygen points, which was funded by the Sarawak government, has been awarded to Medimax Solutions.
In addition, Dr Sim emphasised that the State and Federal governments will add another 67 ICU beds to government hospitals throughout Sarawak this year.
For this, the Sarawak government has approved RM15 million and Federal government RM43 million to enhance the critical care bed capacity.
“Currently, there are only 53 gazetted ICU beds in Sarawak.
“As a result of the State government funding, for the first time, there will be ICU beds in Kapit and Bau; while under the Federal government funding, Limbang will also be equipped with ICU beds,” he said in a statement today after witnessing the handing over of the oxygen points installation contract to Medimax Solutions.
SGH, which currently has 18 ICU beds, will be added with another 20 beds, while Sibu Hospital with 17 existing ICU beds will get additional 23 beds.
Miri Hospital with eight existing ICU beds will get additional four beds, while Bintulu Hospital which currently has six ICU beds will get additional eight beds.
Sarikei Hospital has four existing ICU beds, while Kapit Hospital, Limbang Hospital and Serian Hospital will each be equipped with four ICU beds.
Dr Sim shared that the highest single day requirement for ICU beds was 120 recorded in past June and to manage the increase, hospitals had to convert some normal beds into ICU beds.
“However, this excludes the number of critical care beds in the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) available in most public hospitals as well as the Sarawak Heart Centre,” he added.— DayakDaily
