A NON-profit group has converted a hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur into a private Covid-19 low-risk quarantine and treatment centre for the people in the lower-income group.

The idea came from Crisis Relief Services and Training Bhd Malaysia (Crest), which had found a partner in Travelodge Hotels Asia to turn the Travelodge City Centre hotel in Jalan Hang Kasturi into a quarantine centre.

This hotel-cum-quarantine centre is the first of its kind to provide care and treatment for the B40 community for free.

This centre, approved for operation by the Health Ministry, is fully supported and funded through donations and operated by volunteers.

Crest has allocated RM2.7 million to run this centre until November.

Its executive director Cheong Chee Keen said this initiative was started to help the already struggling and hard-hit B40 communities.

“With the country reporting almost 20,000 Covid-19 cases daily, I don’t know if the government has figures on how many of them belong to the B40 group.

“The B40 group is already struggling and now, with the pandemic worsening, they would struggle to find places to quarantine because places are either full or they will need to pay.

“Most can’t quarantine at home because their homes are not conducive. So, in this situation, if one is infected, they can possibly infect the whole family, and even worse if they are staying in apartments, they could infect more people in the vicinity,” Cheong told The Malaysian Insight.

Comfortable housing

The Travelodge City Centre will house Covid-19 patients in Category 1 and 2 from the B40 community.

These patients are referred to the centre by the Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) or the district health office.

When a patient comes for registration at the hotel, they are only required to bring their Covid-19 test results, referral letter, identification card as well as a RM100 deposit, which will be refunded later.

“So, once we get the referrals from CAC and PKD, we will send our van to bring the patients to our hotel,” he said, adding that as of August 30, there were 102 patients quarantined at the hotel.

Cheong said parents with children who are two years and above can be housed comfortably in this environment, therefore providing the proper quarantine requirements according to the government’s standard operation procedure (SOP).

He said this also addresses the concerns of Covid-19 positive parents who have nowhere to place their children when they get admitted.

“Besides rooms for individuals, we also have family rooms.

“So, if a mother with kids comes to our centre, we will give them a family room.

“If they go to the government quarantine centre, they will probably be separated but here we can place them in one room,” he said.

Throughout their stay, patients will be given three halal meals a day, provided with daily health screening and will have medical personnel on site working around the clock daily.

No visitors, outside food or deliveries will be allowed.

Expansion to other states

The hotel started accepting patients from August 7 and will operate for a duration of three months.

“We have set this (centre) for three months now.

“We do not wish to extend this. If it is extended, then it means that Covid-19 cases in the country are not going down, which is not a good sign,” he said.

Cheong added that some state governments are also in talks with them to start similar quarantine centres in their states.

He said that discussions are still in the beginning stages.

Cheong said the total cost to operate the centre at Travelodge City Centre for a three-month period, including volunteers, comes up to RM2.7 million.

To date, Cheong said a total of 113 volunteers are working on this project, but Crest is still looking for both donations and volunteers.

Those who wish to become a volunteer can register at bit.ly/VolunteerCREST, while those who would like to make a contribution can donate to 8008389938 (CIMB) or 514196118174 (Maybank). – August 31, 2021.