THE country’s medical workforce will be redistributed to hospitals with a high turnover of Covid-19 patients, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

Medical staff from other states will be deployed to hospitals battling the Covid-19 pandemic, such as Sg Buloh Hospital.

The hiring of retired medical workers is also on the cards, Dr Noor Hisham told a press conference today.

“We are willing to rehire our retirees, for example nurses and specialists, to come back and serve,” he said when asked whether Malaysia had enough medical workers for the frontlines as the government anticipates an increase in Covid-19 infections.

Putrajaya yesterday gazetted 409 places nationwide as Covid-19 quarantine centres.

These include include educational institutes, Kem Bina Negara centres, community colleges, Rela centres, government rest houses and other institutes.

As for hospitals, six hybrid healthcare facilities have been added to the list of 26 hospitals nationwide designated for the treatment of Covid-19 cases.

These six hospitals will treat both Covid-19 and other emergency cases, Dr Noor Hisham said.

Malaysia today recorded 10 deaths and 1,309 infections, an increase of 123 positive cases from yesterday.

The six hospitals will treat both Covid-19 patients and other emergency cases.

“We are enhancing our healthcare facilities,” he said.

The ministry is also looking to enlist more university hospitals and army hospitals.

“We will continue to increase the beds available for the management of Covid-19,” he said.

Noor Hisham added that the ministry has also engaged with private hospitals to explore the possibility of referring non-Covid-19 cases there.

On the shortage of medical equipment, he said the ministry has managed to source 100 ventilators from local companies and 350 orders have been placed from China.

This will be in addition to the over 900 ventilators that are currently in the ICU’s.

Malaysia’s total number of infections now stand at 1,306, an increase of 123 positive cases from yesterday, and 10 deaths. – March 22, 2020.