THE government needs to immediately set up an online assessment system and quicker hospitalisation for Covid-19 patients who are quarantined at home to stem the increasing number of dead on arrival (DOA) cases, said a former health official.

Despite the declining daily infections, DOA cases are on the rise as the country’s healthcare system cannot cope with the sudden deterioration of Covid-19 patients quarantined at home.

Health Ministry data for the week of August 27 to September 2 showed 1,891 virus deaths, 476, or 25%, of which were DOA cases. Selangor accounted for 204, or 42.8%, of the cases.

Ex-deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin must set up a patient hospitalisation system and online assessment to prevent such cases.

He said the ministry must improve on its home quarantine supervision and arrange for immediate response teams.

“A home isolation monitoring system should be established. First, provide an oximeter and then arrange for online face-to-face evaluation,” Lee said.

“The oximeter will help patients monitor oxygen levels by themselves.”

He said the ministry should assign medical workers to make telephone or video calls to assess a patient’s condition.

“Once symptoms exist, experienced medical staff will know that the patient needs to be hospitalised, and steps can be taken to send the patient to a hospital.

“There are volunteers in the Klang Valley who provide such services. The ministry can start training these people.”

Lee said general practitioners could also assist in assessing the patients.

He also recommended that the health authority work with e-hailing operators to set up a transport system to send Covid-19 patients to hospital as there have been numerous complaints of a slow ambulance response time.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang had yesterday urged Khairy to work towards bringing down the number of DOA cases to below 10 a day by the end of his first 100 days in office.

Lim, who is the Iskandar Puteri MP, said Khairy had promised to be transparent and to provide more detailed coronavirus data to the public, adding the minister should start by giving a state-by-state breakdown of the DOA Covid-19 cases.

Meanwhile, Pandamaran assemblyman Tony Leong Tuck Chee questioned the high number of deaths when the number of patients in intensive care is reported to have decreased.

He said the mortality rate for category 3 Covid-19 patients who have pneumonia is still high, adding these patients are normally placed under home quarantine.

Leong said category 3 patients suffer sudden deterioration while at home and by the time they are sent to the hospital, it is too late to save them.

“There is no response from the medical staff and the patients don’t know who to turn to when facing difficulties,” he said.

“Family members of the deceased have complained of poor medical treatment and service.”

Provide quarantine kits

Klang MP Charles Santiago said the Covid-19 patients are required to first go to the Covid-19 assessment centres instead of directly to the emergency room for help.

“They will be sent home after putting on the bracelet for self-quarantine but those living in low-cost homes do not have a suitable place for isolation and the situation for foreign workers is even worse,” he said.

Santiago said many patients’ conditions deteriorate while at home, especially those with comorbidities, and they are sent too late to the hospital for treatment.

He said many patients do not know how to evaluate their condition and being poor, they cannot afford vitamins or health equipment for self-checks.

Santiago said the government should arrange for quarantine kits containing an oximeter, vitamins and antibiotics to be given to each Covid-19 patient upon positive diagnosis.

He said it is difficult to even determine whether some of the deaths are caused by Covid-19 without a post-mortem.

“The focus is not whether these people are isolated at home, but whether they can be properly isolated.

“If there is a need for them to stay at home, then the authorities must ensure that the quarantine is done properly. Otherwise the situation will backfire,” Santiago said. – September 7, 2021.