KUCHING, April 30: Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham disclosed that Sarawak now has a total of 18 Covid-19 screening hospitals, compared to only five hospitals during the first phase of the pandemic outbreak.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, four of the hospitals, namely Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), Miri Hospital, Bintulu Hospital and Sibu Hospital, have been identified as Covid-19 treatment centres, with a total number of 736 beds, specifically for Covid-19 cases.
“These hospitals are also equipped with 63 critical treatment beds, including 112 respiratory assistance machines.
“Apart from that, five other facilities have also been identified as quarantine and low-risk treatment centres with the capacity of 901 beds,” he said during a press conference to give updates on the national Covid-19 situation at Putrajaya, today.
Dr Noor Hisham also revealed that Sarawak has four laboratories which can be use to conduct tests for Covid-19.
He said the labs are located at SGH, Sibu Hospital, Miri Hospital and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), and the daily tests at these laboratories will be increased from 898 to 1,040.
“SGH will be getting its Turbo Lab machine which is expected to start its operation on May 20, 2020, with the capacity of 200 tests daily. Bintulu Hospital is also expected to start conducting their tests in the middle of May, with the capacity of 50 tests daily,” he disclosed.
If there is a need, he added, MoH will send the test samples to private labs as part of efforts to increase testing capacity in the short-term. — DayakDaily
