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Frontliners to Malaysians: Covid-19 is no joke, the war is not over

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s healthcare system is stretched as hospitals are running out of beds at intensive care units (ICUs) as Covid-19 cases show no signs of abating.

Medical frontliners from government and private facilities attending to Covid-19 patients nationwide took to social media calling for the public to realise how severe the situation is in the country, urging them to take immediate precautionary steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“Our Covid-19 ward is full. Our Covid ICU is full. We are overwhelmed. We are tired. We are seeing patients deteriorate every day,” a doctor from a hospital in Petaling Jaya wrote on Facebook.

She called on Malaysians to help save the country’s healthcare system by adhering to the standard operating procedures (SOP) at all times.

Hospital ICUs, she said, are collapsing and it is by minimising social activities that the public can immensely help reduce the transmission rate of the virus.

“Please spread awareness and share that our healthcare (system) is collapsing due to those not following SOPs and gallivanting around like we have won this war. We are still battling Covid-19 in the wards.

“We can go for tarawih prayers next year, we can go to Ramadan bazaars, Raya shopping and, we can spend Hari Raya with our loved ones next year. We can enjoy social activities again once the pandemic is under control.

“There will be no next year if this pandemic is not curbed,” she cautioned.

Most of her patients, she said do not know where they contracted Covid-19. Some of them had attended family dinners while others got it merely by visiting a close friend.

“It just takes one person and a few minutes to spread this deadly virus. Wear your masks and keep your sanitisers with you. We beg you. Help us help you. Stay safe, follow SOPs.

“It starts at home and it starts with you. Think of the elderly and immunocompromised patients that we have to treat and are critically ill in the wards.

“What if they were your parents, grandparents and loved ones. Awareness usually comes too late for some when they lose their loved ones. Don’t let it be you.

“I am writing this with a broken heart and a splitting headache from wearing a PPE in the ward the whole day, fasting and rushing back to break fast with my kids who are also fasting.

“The frontliners have kids and families too. We sacrifice time with them to care for those in need,” she added.

A doctor from Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile reminded Malaysians that the Covid-19 infection is no joke as the number of younger patients falling victim to the coronavirus is fast increasing.

“More and more people are being infected daily. Medical facilities are increasingly critical. There is no sign that the wave will subside in the near future. If anything, the situation will only get worse,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

“A 36-year-old category 5 patient is currently admitted at our ICU. He had done a swab test following his brother’s arrival from India who had tested Covid-19 positive.

“Within days of the swab test, the patient showed symptoms and was admitted to the ward as he was classified as a category 3 patient.”

The doctor shared that the patient later required oxygen and was identified as a category 4 patient. Within five days from the swab test, she said the patient is now a category 5 patient in the ICU.

The day the patient was admitted to the ICU, she said his brother died at another ICU in a private hospital due to the virus.

“Just last week in Johor, a whole family was infected with Covid-19. Two of their sons in their 20s died, while the parents are fighting for their lives in the ICU.

“Covid-19 is no joke. Stay safe,” she wrote.

A medical doctor on Twitter has called for a Movement Control Order (MCO) with stringent SOP as implemented during the first wave in March 2020 to be enforced now.

He said the strict MCO should be in place for three to six months to effectively break the chain of transmission.

“We need to realise that we have failed. The healthcare system is on the verge of collapsing, Why did we not learn from New Zealand,” he tweeted.

Another doctor on Twitter wrote: “Our healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. Just head to a hospital’s emergency unit to see the situation for yourself.

“I just came into work and the ward is packed like a sardine can. If only you guys know what it is like on the ground.”

Source: NST