THE Health Ministry will increase security at wards after a 26-year-old Bangladeshi man receiving treatment for Covid-19 tried to flee Sungai Buloh Hospital. 

Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said police caught the man soon after they were alerted by the hospital.

He said there were 26 undocumented migrants receiving treatment at the hospital and they are usually accompanied by Immigration Department personnel and are handcuffed.

“Normally when they are admitted to the hospital, they will be accompanied by an Immigration officer and they will be handcuffed as well in the ward but somehow this Bangladesh managed to escape this morning,” he said at the daily press conference on the Covid-19 situation in the country.

“We alerted the police and Immigration and we managed to locate him. Now he is back in the ward.” 

He said the ministry is working with security authorities to investigate how the man escaped.

“We are looking into how he could actually escape from the ward. whereby he was already handcuffed,” he added.  

He said the ministry will move undocumented migrants, including the 26 in Sungai Buloh, to the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park in Serdang for treatment due to security reasons. 

He added that only citizens and foreigners with documents will be treated at  Sungai Buloh. 

“Hopefully by doing so we can improve the security in MAEPS and make sure we provide good treatment for them,” he said. 

“This is our concern before we can use other hospitals and facilities for the illegal immigrants.” – May 30, 2020.