PETALING JAYA: Not all 500 ambulances that the Health Ministry is procuring are "negative pressure" types.

       In a statement on Tuesday (June 22) the ministry said they had advertised the tenders for 490 ambulances together with medical equipment for the use of hospitals and clinics nationwide on June 17.

       They said Health Minister Datuk Seri Adham Baba was wrongly reported as saying that the ministry was "procuring 500 negative pressure ambulances".

       "Not all 500 ambulances are 'negative pressure ambulances' as had been reported," the ministry's secretary-general said in a statement on Tuesday (June 22).

       It added that negative pressure ambulance features are needed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic currently and in the future, with features such as negative pressure system, HEPA filters and UV lamps for patients with infectious diseases, especially airborne diseases.

       Certain parties had questioned the need for these types of ambulances, with the cost of procuring them one of the main issues.