ANTICIPATING more Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks, the Health Ministry now has to procure more ventilators as part of its preparations.

Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry has already received the necessary funding and has to allocate it accordingly.

“The problem is to procure medical equipment, for instance ventilators. We expect cases to increase this week and next week,” he said at a press conference today.

“We have to be prepared with ventilators if the number of cases increases,” he added.

The ministry needs 500 ventilators for the 26 hospitals designated for Covid-19 treatment.

Talks with China are currently underway on the procurement of medical equipment, he said.

Currently, the Health Ministry has 925 ventilators.

In addition to that, 3,400 hospital beds and 300 intensive care units (ICU) in the 26 hospitals have been earmarked for Covid-19 patients.

At present, the utilisation rate of hospital beds and ICU at the facilities stands at 20% and 18% respectively. 

He also said while the government does not have the capability of building a hospital within 10 days like China, it has vacated certain hospitals to handle Covid-19 patients and referred non-emergency cases to other hospitals to handle the pandemic.

Malaysia today saw three new Covid-19 deaths – a 50-year-old man from Malacca, and a mother and daughter duo from Sarawak.

There were 153 new cases reported today, bringing the total to 1,183 cases, among the highest in Asia.

The daily number of cases has also hit three digits for seven straight days now. – March 21, 2020.