KUCHING: Sarawak needs to be prepared to face any possible surge in daily positive COVID-19 cases, especially involving health facilities in the state.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences public health expert Associate Professor Dr Helmy Hazmi said the anticipated surge in cases is expected to see an increased number of patients seeking treatment at public or private health clinics.
“Hence, the process of providing services to patients needs to be evaluated if there is room for any improvement so that patients coming in are not overcrowded at the clinic,” he said when contacted by New Sarawak Tribune on Sunday (Feb 6).
He said that a more specific and pro-active approach to health education should be given to those who are likely to change their category from mild to severe, especially those at high risk
Helmy added that apart from increasing the surge capacity, physical facilities and intensive care unit (ICU) at the hospital also needed to be improved.
“It includes training and simulation of infectious disease case management for health staff to be given attention so that they are able to act efficiently in the event of a surge in cases entering the ICU,” he said.
On the same note, as a precautionary measure to face the surging cases, he encouraged the public to get the booster dose vaccine if they had not already done so.
“Parents are encouraged to register their children for the vaccine as children are a large group in the country and vaccination can help reduce the rate of infection and transmission of the virus in the community.
“We also cannot ignore the basics in protecting ourselves from COVID-19 infection, wear face mask, double mask because it will prevent the virus from getting into our airways and lungs.
“Always practice good hand hygiene and avoid going to crowded areas. If unhealthy and symptomatic, avoid going to public places and do a self-test. If positive, report in the MySejahtera system,” he said.
In this matter, Helmy called on the community to adopt a more responsible attitude not only towards themselves but also the public.
For the record, daily COVID-19 cases are at risk of soaring back to more than 20,000 cases by the end of next month, if the virus’s infectious rate (Rt) remains at 1.2.
At the same time, Health director general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the projection was based on the SEIR Daily Case Observation and Projection model by the Ministry of Health (MoH), which was uploaded on his Twitter account, yesterday (Feb 6).
