Page 117 - MALAYSIA HEALTH SECTOR RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD

On 31st March 2020, 60 out of 66 ICU beds in Sabah were allocated for
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COVID-19 cases; however, only 5% was utilised at that point . As of 2nd
November 2020, the number of ICU beds in Sabah had been increased by
more than two-fold to 149 beds, with 130 being reserved for COVID-19
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critical cases, at a utilisation rate of 60% . Further efforts were taken by
MOH Malaysia to continuously enhance the ICU capacity in Sabah, especially
in financial funding. Additional funding was allocated to build more ICU
wards and upgrade the existing ICU facilities, such as procurement of extra
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ventilators, beds, and patient monitors . In an effort to increase the
number of ICU beds in Sabah, repurposing of clinical areas into ICU modular
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wards in certain healthcare facilities was performed .

d. Low-risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC)
As of 30th October 2020, there was a total of 28 low-risk quarantine and
treatment centres, with a maximum of 7,368 beds being established in
Sabah to accommodate the increasing number of COVID-19 category 1 and
2 patients . These PKRCs were necessary considering the logistic issues
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between the districts in Sabah. A team of medical healthcare workers was
stationed in each PKRC to provide daily monitoring and treatment to the
COVID-19 patients.

e. HCW mobilisation
The drastic rise in COVID-19 cases in Sabah had resulted in an enormous
burden on its healthcare resources, specifically among its HCWs. During the
first and second COVID-19 pandemic waves in Sabah, the number of cases
reached around 400 cases , and the existing HCWs in the healthcare
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facilities of Sabah during that period were able to cope with the situation .
However, as the figure rose drastically since September 2020, the workload
became rapidly overwhelming and had overburdened the HCWs, thereby
also affecting the delivery of other essential healthcare services to the
public. To overcome the shortage in human resources, MOH Malaysia had
taken several approaches, such as:

BATTLING THE THIRD COVID-19 WAVE IN MALAYSIA BATTLING THE THIRD COVID-19 WAVE IN MALAYSIA 81
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