KLANG Valley now has 4,739 hospital beds earmarked for Covid-19 treatment, which is 14 times more than the 345 beds allocated as at October 1, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The director-general of health said the measure was taken to accommodate more patients in line with the spike of infections in the Klang Valley.

“At the initial stage of the third wave of Covid-19, the Health Ministry only used the Sg Buloh and Kuala Lumpur Hospitals to treat Covid-19. 

“The leprosy centre was also transformed into a low-risk quarantine and treatment centre for patients belonging to category 1 and 2 in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. 

“However, the increase in the number of Covid-19 patients has resulted in a high uptake of beds,” he added.

The Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital is now a Covid-19 hybrid hospital with 230 beds earmarked specifically for coronavirus patients. 

Meanwhile, the number of beds in the Kuala Lumpur and Sg Buloh Hospitals were increased to 831 and 630 units respectively. 

Apart from the hospitals, the beds were also spread to three other treatment centres, including the leprosy centre and the Health Ministry’s training centre in Sg Buloh as well as the Tuanku Mizan Military hospital. 

The ministry and the National Security Council have also established a Central Region Covid-19 Unified Command Centre to manage the operations of the treatment facilities in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur. 

The command centre will be headed by Selangor health director Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman and his deputy Dr Sarah Shaikh Abdul Karim, who is an emergency specialist at the Sg Buloh Hospital. 

The Klang Valley reported 175 infections today, with more than 4,000 cumulative active cases. – November 18, 2020.