INTENSIVE care units (ICU) across the Klang Valley have exceeded 113% capacity, while the nationwide total is 91%, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

According to Noor Hisham, to accommodate the increase, hospitals have had to repurpose other wards as temporary ICUs.

“This will also allow non-Covid19 patients to get the critical care they need.

“For example, at Sungai Buloh Hospital, part of the Emergency Department has been converted into a critical care centre and ICU,” he said on Facebook today. 

He said the 80-bed ICU at Sungai Buloh Hospital, the main Covid-19 hospital in the Klang Valley, was at 111% capacity as of yesterday, handling 89 Covid-19 patients.

Noor Hisham said other strained hospitals include Kajang Hospital, Banting Hospital, Serdang Hospital, Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital and Ampang Hospital.

He said these hospital ICUs are operating at anywhere between 113% and 317% capacity.

Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 643 Covid-19 admissions into ICUs in a single day and 50 deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours.

This is an additional 56 cases on critical wards compared with Thursday’s tally, where there were 587 admissions.

Noor Hisham said there was also an increase in patients requiring respiratory support. Yesterday, 363 people were on ventilators, an addition of 33 cases from Thursday. 

He added that the national health system is under tremendous pressure and needs help to break the chain of infections.

“Stay at home. If there are important matters outside, be sure to adhere to the standard operating procedure. 

“Employers are urged to give employees permission to work from home and limit the number of employees present to the office at any one time.” – May 22, 2021.