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KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): Amid complaints of poor conditions and inadequate facilities in quarantine centers, the Selangor Health Department today admitted that the situation at the Covid-19 Integrated Quarantine and Treatment Center (PKRC) at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS )) 2.0 is getting harder now as the enrollment of Category 3 patients increases.
Covid-19 patients are divided into five categories based on the severity of their symptoms, and Category 3 are those who are symptomatic and have a lung infection. (Category 1 refers to those without symptoms; Category 2 are those who are symptomatic but without a lung infection; Category 4 are those who are symptomatic of a lung infection and need oxygen supplementation; and Category 5 are those who are most affected i.e. critical patients with complications involving multiple organs.)
In a statement on its Facebook page, the Selangor Health Department said that the PKRC MAEPS initially had 60 beds for Category 3 patients in early January. There are now 757 Category 3 patients to be accommodated.
It is planned to increase this capacity to 1,000 beds to support the health system in the Klang Valley, in line with the increasing number of Covid-19 patients.
“Therefore, Category 3 patients were housed in halls near the temporary intensive care unit for closer monitoring, while stable Category 1 and 2 patients are housed in the GD hall. Even so, the PKRC is trying its best to separate the categories of citizen and non-citizen patients in this hall, ”she said.
“PKRC MAEPS thanked and also welcomed the question of the approval process mentioned by the complainant and will look back from time to time and improve the process,” it said.
The department responded to complaints from a @SyedMohamedarif on Twitter who spent nearly nine hours in a Covid assessment center before being taken to MAEPS. There he found that the quarantine center he was sent to was a converted parking lot that was a double car park deck beds were placed.
After taking nearly two hours to register for immigration, he found that his assigned bed was being occupied by someone else, whereupon he was told to look elsewhere for an empty bed. The one he finally found had neither a sheet nor a blanket. When he asked for help, he was told to wait for the items. He waited until after 2am but the items didn’t arrive. The shower was just a nearby toilet with a hand bidet.
There’s also no oversight or adequate ventilation, he tweeted. “I think the government should really think about meeting these basic needs. There shouldn’t be an ‘alasan’ from ‘takde duit’ (an excuse for not having money) because when you have ‘takde duit’ (you have that not) money), you just have to find a way, get a loan, use your reserves and do what you are supposed to do. Ultimately, it is for the people, “he wrote.
His posts have since gone viral on Twitter.
