As the health director-general said, our healthcare system is at the breaking point. Let me point it out – it is way past beyond that. 

Any healthcare worker in this country knows that even before the Covid-19 pandemic started, our medical system was at breaking point with the budget cuts, lack of manpower, overcrowding, and also lack of update in facilities (Exhibit A: Multiple fires at the same hospital in Johor and yet nothing is told to the public).

The healthcare workers had a new synonym – frontliners for the battle in the ravages of this pandemic. But it is getting ridiculous at my hospital (Hospital Sungai Buloh) also known as The Covid Hospital of Malaysia. Since all this started, we have been exposed to a highly infectious environment and deal with and unknown minuscule war creature. In Malaysia, 2% of infected cases are healthcare workers.

I am a doctor working at this hospital and I can say that the basic amenities that are supposed to be given for us are not provided. Sometimes we do on-call shifts every other day (EOD) in dealing and managing Covid patients and continue working after an on-call shift until 5pm. 

I understand that it is our job and I am grateful for it. They are supposed to provide us with on-call rooms, provide us on-call food, provide us with a proper place to at least take a break and even rest before continuing facing this battle but all this have been taken away or told not available at the moment. 

They said there’s been a hospital budget cut so they cannot provide on-call shift meals. Do you know how exhausted and tiring are our shifts are plus wearing PPE in the midst of all this? And yet, when we want to take a break there is no proper place to rest and worst of all, we can’t even have a proper meal. 

We already brought these issues to a higher authority (even the hospital director) but I guess our issues fell on deaf ears. Some of the senior doctors even said that unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions and said we were pampered (well, during your time you did not have a pandemic to deal with!).

Most of the doctors are annoyed. Some of my colleagues fell into depression and started taking anti-depressants. Some of us haven’t even met or visited our own families or loved ones for months. We are tired, exhausted, annoyed and way past the breaking point.

Moreover, we miss our family dearly and is this how you treat us? With the new upsurge in cases, we expect the worst is yet to come. 

We do not want any recognition like murals on walls or some light show on a bridge. We are asking to at least provide us with a comfortable environment to carry out our duties and to treat us like humans working long hours. 

Please, would someone help us here?

Source : From Malaysiakini

A patient at the Covid-19 Quarantine and Low Risk Treatment Centre in Serdang waves to photographers through a window.

The centre, located at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Maeps) is capable of accommodating up to 10,000 beds.

The Health Ministry is also setting up an integrated hospital at Maeps to stabilise patients at the centre who suddenly develop severe symptoms, before sending them to intensive care.

Source: From Malaysiakini

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry has reported 4,029 new cases of Covid-19, another record high.

The previous record, just two days ago, was 3,337 new cases.

Selangor reported the most cases, more than 1,400, followed by Johor and Sabah.

Of the new cases, 110 (2.7 percent) were from lockup, prison or immigration depot clusters.

Leading indicators:

• Active cases: 37,126 ↑ (1,873 more than the previous day, new record)
  
• Patients in ICU: 205 ↑ (1 more than the previous day, new record)
  
• Intubated patients: 79 ↓ (8 less than the previous day)
  
• Deaths: 8

A breakdown of cases by states is as follows:

Selangor (1,466)

Existing clusters: 486

Close contacts: 675

Other screenings: 305

Johor (719)

Existing clusters: 348

New clusters (Jalan Sembrong, Tembok Nanas, Senai Cyber): 163

Close contacts: 143

Other screenings: 65

Sabah (449)

Existing clusters: 8

Close contacts: 335

Other screenings: 106

Kuala Lumpur (347)

Existing clusters: 94

Close contacts: 129

Imported: 7

Other screenings: 117

Negeri Sembilan (214)

Existing clusters: 41

New cluster (Jalan Permata): 50

Close contacts: 74

Other screenings: 49

Kedah (195)

Existing clusters: 19

Close contacts: 62

Other screenings: 114

Kelantan (141)

Existing clusters: 45

Close contacts: 63

Other screenings: 33

Penang (120)

Existing clusters: 36

Close contacts: 46

Other screenings: 38

Terengganu (80)

Existing clusters: 35

Close contacts: 22

Other screenings: 23

Sarawak (69)

Existing clusters: 50

Imported: 1

Other screenings: 18

Pahang (65)

Existing clusters: 1

New cluster (Kampung Lebu): 8

Close contacts: 41

Other screenings: 15

Perak (54)

Existing clusters: 10

New cluster (Taman Juta): 1

Close contacts: 30

Other screenings: 13

Malacca (44)

Existing clusters: 4

Close contacts: 36

Other screenings: 4

Putrajaya (35)

Existing clusters: 3

Close contacts: 19

Other screenings: 13

Labuan (17)

Close contacts: 12

Other screenings: 5

Close contacts: 14

Perlis (14)

Close contact tracing: 14

Deaths

Of the eight new deaths, four were from Sabah.

Details of the deceased are as follows:

‘Patient 104,077’  – Male, 70, passed away at the Queen Elizabeth, Kota Kinabalu (Sabah)

‘Patient 126,612’  – Male, 59, passed away at the Sungai Buloh (Selangor)

‘Patient 141,045’  – Male, 78, passed away at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh (Perak)

‘Patient 142,964’  – Male, 72, passed away at the Sungai Buloh (Kuala Lumpur)

‘Patient 144,035’  – Male, 40, passed away at the Bentong (Pahang)

‘Patient 145,939’  – Male, 62, passed away at theJenazah dibawa ke Lahad Datu (Sabah)

‘Patient 117,659’  – Foreign female, 45, passed away at the Lahad Datu (Sabah)

‘Patient 149,197’  – Foreign female, 61, passed away at the Lahad Datu (Sabah)

Clusters

Meanwhile, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement today, reported six new clusters. Their details are as follows:

Senai Cyber cluster

Main location: Jalan Cyber 2, Senai Industrial Estate 3, Senai, Johor

Affected districts: Kulai

Type: Factory

Cases to date: 114

Tembok Nanas cluster

Main location: Pekan Nanas Immigration Depot, Johor

Affected districts: Pontian

Type: Immigration Depot

Cases to date: 41

Jalan Sembrong cluster

Main location: Jalan Sembrong 3, Taman Perindustrian Sembrong, Kluang, Johor

Affected districts: Kluang

Type: Workers’ quarters

Cases to date: 18

Jalan Permata cluster

Main location: Jalan Permata 1/3, Arab Malaysian Industrial Park, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan

Affected districts: Seremban

Type: Workplace, index case with symptoms

Cases to date: 61

Taman Juta cluster

Main location: Taman Juta Intan, Perak

Affected districts: Hilir Perak

Type: Index case with symptoms

Cases to date: 14

Kampung Lebu cluster

Main location: Kampung Lebu, Bentong, Pahang

Affected districts: Bentong, Kuantan

Type: Wedding ceremony, tahlil prayers

Cases to date: 21

Source : From Malaysiakini

This statement is released to affirm our stand to improve houseman training in Malaysia. As depicted by numerous news reports and results of multiple surveys and studies detailing the myriad issues in the housemanship training programme, it is evident that this is a pressing issue which is causing unfair termination, loss of talent, mental health problems, and multiple cases of suicide among doctors.

The issues above have impacted our healthcare system negatively. House officers (HOs) are the first to tend to patients in hospitals. When HOs are poorly treated and denied support, patient care will inevitably be affected.

According to surveys by Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Doctors Only Bulletin Board System (DOBBS), up to 80 percent of doctors in Malaysia have experienced bullying while serving in the public sector. Of these doctors, 71 percent experienced symptoms such as anxiety, loss of confidence, and hypervigilance, while 17 percent considered suicide.

On the surface, Malaysia has achieved a 1:500 doctor-to-patient ratio, but this ratio is unjustly inflated by the glut of junior doctors. It distracts us from many actual indicators that measure the quality of our healthcare system. Our healthcare system must endeavour to train our junior doctors and retain specialists to protect the wellbeing of the rakyat.

Besides that, our HOs are often overworked and underpaid. The act of seeking help or advice is often unjustly seen as a sign of incompetence and may come with repercussions, including the possibility of housemanship extension. These barriers to learning, amongst many other reasons, make it extremely difficult for housemen to improve; making them susceptible to the current culture of humiliation, bullying, and derogative behaviours from superiors that is perpetuated by the acceptance of such acts within the community.

Furthermore, as per the latest available data in Malaysia, the current ratio of hospital-based specialists to HOs 1:3.13 in 2011 has resulted in inadequate supervision of HOs. This often leads to psychological challenges and insecurities amongst junior doctors when they apply medical knowledge or perform clinical procedures on patients, especially without supervision or guidance.

Appropriate mentorship with sufficient motivation and fair assessments during houseman training had been postulated by a study to be one of the key approaches to prevent emotional burnout among HOs.

The Malaysian Medics International (MMI) therefore urges the government to carry out the following actions to improve the quality of houseman training in Malaysia:

Increase funding for public hospitals to improve training and available vacancies in the housemanship training programme

In 2018, Malaysia’s health expenditure was at 3.76 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), significantly lower than our Southeast Asian counterparts which include Philippines (4.40 percent), Myanmar (4.79 percent), and Singapore (4.46 percent). An increase in funding from the government is necessary to increase vacancies in the housemanship training programme and improve the current wages and welfare for housemen. These include entitlement for leaves and reducing unhealthy working hours. We strongly urge the Ministry of Health to devise a sustainable and achievable plan to improve, protect, and safeguard the welfare of our HOs.

Create a conducive environment for healthcare professionals to speak out and report negative culture

Support groups and existing feedback channels must be reinforced to better deal with further reports and feedback. Relevant organisations or support groups must protect reporters by either keeping their identities confidential or keeping them safe from abusive behaviours when reports are received, preventing power abuse from superiors and allowing for prompt actions.

It is also of utmost importance for the involved hospitals to assess the situation and take immediate actions and further steps to prevent similar incidents. Concurrently, the Ministry of Health must develop nationwide policies to prevent such incidents from occurring in all hospitals.

This not only will create a safe space for healthcare workers to speak up against negative work cultures, but at the same time, propagate positive changes towards the future of our healthcare system. Additionally, nationwide audits and surveys measuring the extent and acts of bullying in hospitals will also be a means towards developing policies to safeguard the welfare of our HOs.

In conclusion, MMI urges the government of Malaysia and all relevant stakeholders to come together and devise strategies to improve the dire conditions faced by many junior doctors. We call upon the medical fraternity to propagate kindness and uphold a positive work culture in order to create a conducive working environment for all medical practitioners.

MMI understands the government has been actively identifying the concerns of various parties involved in the issues and challenges to the housemanship training programme. However, these pressing issues in the programme must be magnified to improve the welfare of young doctors. Junior doctors today are the leaders of healthcare tomorrow. MMI strongly believes that a change is necessary for our junior doctors, for our healthcare, and for our rakyat.

Source : From Malaysiakini

The Health director-general has announced that those who test positive will now be followed up through MySejahtera app.

As a covid-19 positive patient, and with others in my house testing positive too, I would like to share that the actual experience is not only bad, but the system is not up to date at all. This renders the system useless.

First, let me provide some context. I started having symptoms on Jan 6 and took a swab test at a private hospital on Jan 8. On Jan 10, I was informed I tested positive.

The Health Ministry called me on the same day, and I was picked up and sent to the Sungai Buloh low-risk quarantine centre on the same day. On Jan 15, I returned home after being given a clean bill of health and discharged.

If anything, I should be categorised as a recovered patient. In other words, I cannot infect anyone now. For the record, out of an abundance of caution, I am self-isolating for a few more days.

And now my MySejahtera experience. During my entire stay at the hospital, my status remained as low-risk and not positive on the app.

I only received a text message on Jan 15 to say that I am Covid-19 positive and that my profile will be updated. My status was updated by the app only today (Jan 16). Note that I am already discharged.

The app, however, says that I am Covid-19 positive and asymptomatic as of Jan 16, 2021. The information is clearly wrong, and it appears that I will be categorised wrongly for some days going forward. I will be alarming people unnecessarily should I choose to go out.

As for my wife and son, who were tested positive on Jan 12, the app (now on their fourth day) still shows that they are not Covid-19 positive.

The point I am making is that only a well-designed app with a database that is connected in real-time with the MOH database will be useful in the fight against covid. Otherwise, the app will be lagging along uselessly many days behind the real-time situation. It will not be helpful to patients who are infected and will inconvenience those who have recovered.

What does it take to have MySejahtera run like a modern app? A time machine is only good for historical records. Why is it so difficult for the company that got the contract to build MySejahtera to come up with a useful real-time application?

Source : From Malaysiakini

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 3,211 new Covid-19 cases amidst record numbers reported in Terengganu and a new record set for intensive care patients.

Terengganu reported a high of 92 new cases, mostly from the Kubang Bujuk cluster (65 new cases). 

Most of the new cases were reported in the Klang Valley (40.9 percent) followed by Johor (16.7 percent) and Sabah (16 percent). 

In Selangor, out of the 889 new cases, 77 were detected among those with symptoms and are not or haven’t yet been connected to existing clusters. 

Leading indicators:

• Active cases:  35,253↑ (1,264 more than the previous day, new record)
  
• Patients in ICU:  204 ↑ (9 more than the previous day, new record)
  
• Intubated patients: 87 ↑ (1 more than the previous day)
  
• Deaths: 8

Of the 3,211 new cases, five were imported. New cases by states at a glance are as follows: 

Selangor (889)
Existing clusters: 127
New clusters: 127 (Kluster Jalan Telok Gong dan Kluster Lintaran Lintang)
Close contacts: 359
Imported: 1
Other screenings: 230

Johor (535)
Existing clusters: 265
New clusters: 80 (Persiaran Selatan, Kluster Jalan Kluang, and Kampung Perani)
Close contacts: 118
Other screenings: 72

Sabah (514)
Existing clusters: 14
New clusters: 48 (Ladang Baturong and Ladang Matamba)
Close contacts: 319
Other screenings: 133

Kuala Lumpur (401)
Existing clusters: 156
Close contacts: 125
Imported: 4
Other screenings: 116

Pulau Pinang (194)
Existing clusters: 114
Close contacts: 39
Other screenings: 41

Kedah (142)
Existing clusters: 32
Close contacts: 47
Other screenings: 63

Terengganu (92)
Existing clusters: 70
Close contacts: 17
Other screenings: 5

Kelantan (79)
Existing clusters: 17
New cluster: 8 (Pondok Hidayah)
Close contacts: 35
Other screenings: 19

Perak (74)
Existing clusters: 4
New cluster: 2 (Kota Road)
Close contacts: 39
Other screenings: 29

Negeri Sembilan (70)
Existing clusters: 20
Close contacts: 34
Other screenings: 16

Pahang (70)
Existing clusters: 5
Close contacts: 39
Other screenings: 26

Sarawak (60)
Existing clusters: 50
Other screenings: 10

Malacca (58)
Existing clusters: 8
New cluster: 6 (Tembok Kemus)
Close contacts: 22
Other screenings: 22

Putrajaya (24)
Existing clusters: 3
New cluster: 4 (Restoran Putra)
Close contacts: 9

Deaths

Of the eight new fatalities reported today, two were from Sabah. The cumulative Covid-19 death toll for Sabah has reached 297 or 50.7 percent of the national total (586).

Details of the deceased are as follows: 

‘Patient 78,827’  – Male, 66, passed away at the Queen Elizabeth, Kota Kinabalu (Sabah)

‘Patient 105,193’  – Male, 78, passed away at the Queen Elizabeth, Kota Kinabalu (Sabah)

‘Patient 126,597’  – Male, 79, passed away at the Sungai Buloh (Selangor)

‘Patient 126,621’  – Male, 50, passed away at the Sungai Buloh (Selangor)

‘Patient 137,805’  – Male, 62, passed away at the Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar (Kedah)

‘Patient 145,000’  – Male, 66, passed away at the Sungai Buloh (Selangor)

‘Patient 145,537’  – Female, 76, passed away at the Sungai Buloh (Selangor)

‘Patient 146,620’  – Foreign female, 72, passed away at the Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom, Kluang (Johor)

Clusters

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry is also currently monitoring 284 active clusters while classifying another 12 new clusters today. Their details are as follows:

Jalan Telok Gong cluster
Main location: Kampung Telok Gong, Port Klang, Selangor
Affected districts: Klang
Type: Factory
Cases to date: 108

Linkaran Lintang cluster
Main location: Lingkaran Sultan Hishamuddin and Lintang Sultan Mohamad 1B, Port Klang, Selangor
Affected districts: Klang
Type: Factory, workers’ quarters
Cases to date: 25

Persiaran Selatan cluster
Main location: Persiaran Southkey, Johor Bahru, Johor
Affected districts: Johor Bahru
Type: Construction site
Cases to date: 61

Jalan Kluang cluster
Main location: Jalan Kluang, Batu Pahat, Johor
Affected districts: Batu Pahat
Type: Workplace, index case with symptoms
Cases to date: 18

Kampung Perani cluster
Main location: Bandar Sri Perani, Kota Tinggi, Johor
Affected districts: Kota Tinggi
Type: Mosque, index case with symptoms
Cases to date: 18

Ladang Baturong cluster
Main location: IOI Baturong 3 estate, Kunak, Sabah
Affected districts: Kunak
Type: Social event
Cases to date: 54

Ladang Matamba cluster
Main location: Ladang Matamba, Lahad Datu, Sabah
Affected districts: Lahad Datu
Type: Plantation, targeted screening
Cases to date: 20

Tapak Bina Damai cluster
Main location: Alam Damai, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
Affected districts: Cheras
Type: Construction site
Cases to date: 130

Pondok Hidayah cluster
Main location: Batu 31, Machang, Kelantan
Affected districts: Machang
Type: Index case with severe acute respiratory infection (Sari)
Cases to date: 15

Kota Road cluster
Main location: Jalan Kota, Taiping, Perak
Affected districts: Kinta, Larut, Matang and Selama
Type: Bank, index case with symptoms
Cases to date: 18

Tembok Kemus cluster
Main location: Jalan Kemus Lama, Alor Gajah, Malacca
Affected districts: Alor Gajah
Type: Prison
Cases to date: 22

Restoran Putra cluster
Main location: Precinct 9, Putrajaya
Affected districts: Putrajaya
Type: Restaurant, index case with severe acute respiratory infection (Sari)
Cases to date: 19

Source : From Malaysiakini