KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — Private hospitals are preparing to contribute 1,409 beds to treat Covid-19 patients in order to reduce the strain on the government hospitals, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today.
During a televised address, Muhyiddin explained that 1,344 of the beds will be in regular wards, while another 65 will be in intensive care units (ICUs).
He also said that the Health Ministry (MoH) has begun working together with 31 private hospitals to partially outsource treatment of non-Covid-19 patients to these private hospitals.
“MoH has allocated RM27 million in 2021 for this purpose,” he added, referring to the outsourcing treatment of non-Covid19 patients.
He also reiterated that the Covid-19 testing capacity of both private and government labs will be increased.
Currently, there are a total of 68 labs between the both entities, which have a capacity to run 76,805 tests a day.
Since the first outbreak of the Covid-19 disease in Malaysia, government hospitals have been exclusively housing patients of the disease, despite MoH calling on help from private hospitals to do so.
Now, government hospitals responsible for treatment of Covid-19 patients are reportedly at full capacity, as MoH recorded 48,309 active cases yesterday.
Healthcare professionals are also reportedly overworked, and both Muhyiddin and Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah have warned the public that the national health system is nearly at a breaking point.
