JOHOR BARU: The Temenggong Seri Maharaja Tun Ibrahim Hospital in Kulai and Mercy Malaysia have set up a field hospital to cater to the increasing cases of Covid-19 patients with serious symptoms. State health and environment committee chairman R. Vidyananthan said the hospital has received a high number of patients beyond its capacity over the past four weeks with current bed occupancy at 100%.

       “The hospital management has reached out to Mercy Malaysia to help set up a field hospital that could cater up to 50 patients at one time.

       “The field hospital is also equipped with showers, toilets and proper ventilation and could house patients in critical stages of infection and those waiting to be discharged,” he said in a statement.

       Vidyananthan said the field hospital could also increase the bed capacity in providing treatment to Categories Three, Four and Five patients.

       “The field hospital started its operations on Sept 4 and will run until mid-November this year.

       “So far, a total of 75 Covid-19 patients have been treated there,” he said, adding that there were now seven Covid-19 patients still receiving treatment.

       On another matter, Vidyananthan said there were a total of 18 vaccination centres (PPV) offering walk-in inoculations.

       This includes the Persada PPV here that allows walk-ins up to 1,000 people a day since Thursday.

       Yesterday, four more PPV started operations – Desaru Coast Conference Centre PPV in Kota Tinggi, Dewan Besar Persatuan Memperbaiki Akhlak PPV, Dewan Parit Yaani PPV and Dewan Serbaguna Sri Sulong PPV in Batu Pahat.

       From today, Dewan Orang Ramai Parit Raja PPV in Batu Pahat will start to receive walk-ins while Dewan Jubli Intan Mersing PPV will be operational tomorrow.

       Others are Dewan Kejora Bandar Tenggara PPV in Kota Tinggi (Sept 15); Dewan Sebaguna Endau PPV, Mersing, and Dewan Makmur PPV, Batu Pahat (Sept 16).

       Vidyananthan reminded the people that they were not allowed to cross districts as walk-in PPV centres were available in all districts.

       In George Town, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry would set up a field hospital at the Hospital Pulau Pinang (HPP) parking lot to accommodate the increasing number of Covid-19 patients in the state.

       He said MOH and Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) teams had visited the site, and the construction was expected to take a week.

       “The field hospital will have the Intensive Care Unit ward and other necessities to treat patients,” he said after visiting the HPP and field hospital yesterday.

       Khairy also said MOH would mobilise 200 frontline personnel from other states to help Penang, following the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the state.