THE Health Ministry is increasing hospital bed capacity in anticipation of a spike in Covid-19 infections in the Klang Valley.

Health Director-General Sr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today that the ministry had made preparations beforehand, after noting the trend of increase in cases in the Klang Valley and neighbouring Negri Sembilan.

“We started worrying in September but we had to strike a balance between health and the economy,” he said at a press conference in Putrajaya.

“We could not implement the MCO (movement-control order) because 40% of our economy is concentrated in Selangor. 

“Hence we had to implement the CMCO (conditional movement-control order) on October 14,” he added.

The CMCO that is currently in place in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is scheduled to end on December 6 after a four-week extension.

MOH will transform two more blocks at its training institute into a treatment centre.

Dr Noor Hisham added that the facility could accommodate up to 4,200 patients if two patients were placed in one room.

Apart from the institute and the leprosy centre at the Sg Buloh Hospital, there were also plans to use the old maternity wing of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital as a low-risk quarantine and treatment centre.

“We are also looking at the Cheras Rehab Hospital. We can add  up to 230 beds there. We can also use the military hospital,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry will maximise the capacity at its facilities before considering the option of reopening its field hospital at the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park in Serdang.

He also noted that foreign workers made up for a majority of the cases in construction clusters.

On that note, Dr Noor Hisham encouraged employers to conduct periodic screening for their workers as a precautionary measure.

The Damanlela construction site cluster in Kuala Lumpur contributed 385 cases today.

The cluster was detected after the index patient, a migrant worker, was detained by the police.  

“The migrant worker was screened after being detained by the police and was confirmed as positive. This is a legal migrant with proper documentation,” he said.

Screening at the patient’s workplace led to the detection of another 1,131 cases. – November 16, 2020.