.jpg "Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah speaks during a press conference in Putrajaya March 27, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Choo Choy May")
KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said converting the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) into a makeshift hospital is just a precautionary move.
He said it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared in case the anticipated spike in Covid-19 cases does occur in April.
“Let us prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It’s better to over-prepared than under-prepared, so we will use this as a model for how to utilise an indoor stadium in case we need it.
“The reason is, now we are seeing 150 to 200 cases a day. But if the surge is 1,000 cases per day, then we need to look for beds,” said Dr Noor Hisham during his daily Covid-19 briefing in Putrajaya.
“And our capacity now in the hospitals is 5,292 beds. So we hope that’ll be the first line. If we need the beds, then we are ready.”
Pictures were circulated on social media yesterday of bed charts and medical personnel inside the MAEPS facility seemingly setting up the place for patients.
Some members of the public expressed concern that a huge surge in the number of Covid-19 patients was expected at the facilities.
Dr Noor Hisham, however, allayed those fears, stating that in the beginning, the Health Ministry had allocated 3,400 beds before adding more from its training and development centre to make it 5,292 just in case more cases came in.
He added that MAEPS has two halls. One with 400 beds and the other with 200. Dr Noor Hisham said the facility will be ready by tomorrow evening.
