Dr Kelvin Yii.
KUCHING (Dec 28): Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii hopes the Ministry of Health (MoH) will issue new guidelines for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients who have been advised to go through home quarantine procedures.
Dr Yii said this was following the health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s recent statement that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients should self-isolate at home first due to the insufficient number of hospital beds.
“This is really worrying and it is actually what we feared at the beginning of the virus when we needed Movement Control Order to then flatten the curve and not overwhelm our healthcare system,” said Dr Yii in a statement.
He said such asymptomatic patients should not be merely staying at home but also proper isolation in a specific room and not sharing public places in the house, such as bathrooms and kitchens.
“Ideally, the entire household must also self-isolate together at home to reduce risk of spreading it to the community or their place at work.”
Dr Yii added the Ministry of Health should also increase their contact tracing speed and such tracing should ideally be done within 24 hours or maximum 48 hours, as Dr Noor Hisham had reportedly admitted that some cases took more than two days to trace close contacts.
“This delay may be due to lack of manpower or places to isolate. If it is due to manpower, the MoH should look into engaging more manpower to focus on contact tracing as seen in different countries.
“It may be difficult to fully prevent an outbreak, but what can be done is to be quick to contain it.”
Furthermore, Dr Yii said it was critical for an ‘all-of-government’ and ‘whole-of-society’ strategy and approach to battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Especially in view of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)’s projection that Malaysia is projected to experience a continuous rise in Covid-19 cases until mid-March 2021, hitting over 5000 infections daily from Feb 25.”
While the Ministry of Health had stated they were ready for such projections, Dr Yii opined the ministry should be more transparent and comprehensive in their strategy and engage experts from different fields to formulate the approach towards Covid-19 and instil public confidence.
“In Singapore, they engaged an 18-man expert panel since April comprising of experts in infectious diseases, immunology, individuals from the healthcare sector, academia and clinicians among others to advice their government on their approach towards Covid-19.”
Dr Yii said the city-state government had also published the names and credentials of the 18-man panel to instil confidence in the people and promote acceptance of the strategy itself.
However, in Malaysia, Dr Yii believed the country has the expertise and abilities in the required fields but the public seems to be kept in the dark on whether all experts were recruited and engaged properly to overcome the pandemic.
He stressed that greater transparency will provide confidence and acceptance towards the country’s approach in handling the pandemic and eventually the ‘National Vaccination Strategy’.