Dudong SUPP chairman questions new health protocol
SIBU: Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdulah is urged to upload the findings of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Singapore and South Korean health authorities on the Health Ministry website concerning “almost zero” for patients treated for 14 days or more.
Dudong SUPP chairman Wong Ching Yong, in a statement today, said doing so would allow such findings be studied by Malaysians and medical specialists.
On May 26, the Health Ministry announced the decision to allow Covid-19 positive patients, who have completed their two or more weeks of treatment in hospitals, to return home even if their test results are still positive.
Dr Noor Hisham said according to WHO, infection was “almost zero” for those patients treated for 14 days or more.
Wong said Singapore had on May 16, stated that 18 Covid-19 positive patients, who had stayed at community care facility D’Resort for between 38 and 51 days, were discharged after it was determined that they were no longer infectious.
However, these patients were required to be home quarantined for a further seven days as a precautionary measure.
Further to that, a study from the South Korea CDC released on May 19, showed that of the 447 re-positive cases, no evidence was found that indicated infectivity of re-positive cases.
“It is postulated that the test results remain positive in this group of patients because the PCR test detects genetic fragments of the virus. A positive result does not represent the ‘full presence’ of the virus, nor does it represent that the virus is still viable,” he claimed.
However, according to Wong, the new protocol announced by Dr Noor Hisham brought out serious concern about whether it was really safe to introduce such a new protocol “so fast and so suddenly”.
He said this was because local doctors in Sarawak were sceptical about the safety of the new protocol.
“The view expressed by Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas (Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman) that the scenario in Sarawak is different from West Malaysia, considering the fact that patients could be from the deep interior and coastal rural areas, deserves serious consideration by the Health DG.
“Local doctors in Sarawak suggest that such patients be further monitored for at least seven days as practiced by Singapore. This precaution is conspicuously absent in Dr Noor Hisham’s announcement regarding the new protocol,” Wong pointed out.
He said with the Gawai just around the corner, it was imperative that the Health Ministry not take these reports lightly and that the people needed to continue to be as vigilant as ever by maintaining the safe culture of hand washing and social distancing.
“We would urge all those patients who have recovered from this infection to maintain home quarantine for a further seven days in order to be absolutely sure of the zero risk of transmitting infection to their community,” Wong stressed.
