PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry will be forming a rapid deployment unit to send urgent oxygen supplies and modular ICUs to any states facing a surge in Covid-19 cases in the future, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

       The Health Minister said this was to ensure if new variants emerge, the same situation that had happened in the past, where states facing a spike in cases did not have enough capacity to treat patients, would not recur.

       Khairy also said the Ministry had responded to the most recent Covid-19 spike in Sabah by sending 480 oxygen cylinders and 48 oxygen regulators on Sept 7 but admitted that during the latest surge, there was initially not enough hospital beds.

       “That’s why we have sent additional supplies to Sabah. In Tawau, the Ministry had also identified a site to set up a 100-bed field hospital.

       “Taking a lesson from the situation in Sabah, it is possible that from time to time, we will see states having a surge in cases and needing extra oxygen supplies.

       “While we must ensure that beds with piped-in connection for oxygen are at a comfortable number, the Health Ministry will be forming a rapid deployment unit to ensure that we can send oxygen supplies and modular ICUs quickly to any states facing a spike in cases if new variants emerge,” he said during the Ministers' Question Time in response to questions from Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Semporna) on Tuesday (Sept 14).

       Earlier, Khairy also said the Ministry was aiming to increase the hospital bed to population ratio in the 12th Malaysia Plan, to 2.08 beds per 1,000 people compared to 2.01 beds per 1,000 people currently.

       “To achieve this, the Ministry is continuing the initiative to increase the number of hospital beds through the construction of new hospitals as well as the upgrading of hospitals and existing facilities.

       “The focus is on areas where available hospitals have the highest bed occupancy rate (BOR).

       “Another factor that is also taken into account is population density, access to services in existing hospitals and government financial allocation,” he said to a question by S. Kesavan (PH-Sungai Siput).