PRIVATE hospitals in Sarawak have been asked to aid the state government in managing the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia said today.

President Dr Kuljit Singh said the request had come because public hospitals there may reach capacity.

“There were 3,732 Covid-19 cases reported on September 21 but the percentage of Category 4 and 5 is fortunately in single digits,” he said.

“However, the cumulative number of Category 4 and 5 in intensive care units (ICUs) and wards will soon increase beyond the available space and exhausting healthcare personnel within the public hospitals,” he added.

He said a private hospital in Kuching, which is part of a conglomerate, has agreed to accept paying Covid-19 patients from next next week, once retrofits are completed and approvals have been obtained.

However, he said most private hospitals in Kuching have limited bed space, particularly in ICUs.

Kuljit said other private hospitals in the city are also in discussions about assistance, if requested by the government.

“We hope more non-Covid patients from public hospitals can be decanted to the private hospitals in Kuching, which will create space for Covid-19 patients to be treated in public facilities,” he said.

“This process of decanting was a huge success in the Greater Klang Valley with 3,187 patients receiving care in the private hospitals and currently there are about 1,000 beds available for future decanting.

“Penang has so far decanted 69 patients, which began 10 days ago, and private hospitals on the island have treated 1,325 paying Covid 19 patients since the pandemic,” he said.

He hoped that private hospitals in Sarawak will be able to follow suit by accepting paying patients and the non-Covid-19 patients decanted to their facilities.

He said the Ministry of Health has been working closely with the association since the start of the year and the public-private partnership has helped thousands of patients during this pandemic.

Sarawak has seen a spike in cases since the end of July, despite temporarily receding in mid-September.

Yesterday, 3,732 cases were reported in the state, while the seven-day average was 3,547. – September 22, 2021.