LABUAN, May 29 — The bed utilisation rate for COVID-19 treatment at Labuan Nucleus Hospital has reached maximum capacity, said Labuan Health Department director Dr Ismuni Bohari.
He said the only choice left is to maximise (capacity) and fully utilise the hospital’s space to cater for the increasing number of daily COVID-19 high-risk patients.
“Despite the daily increase in the number of positive cases, the hospital’s capability and emergency preparedness remained intact and we will do our level best to deliver up to the people’s expectation,” he told Bernama today.
Dr Ismuni said several wards and medical facilities in the hospital have also been turned into COVID-19 wards.
He also said seven COVID-19 patients with morbidity in the hospital are depending on medical ventilators.
“We only have 11 units of ventilators, seven are being used and the four units left are for patients with breathing difficulties,” he said.
Dr Ismuni said in the event of further spikes in daily positive cases, it is likely certain areas in the existing low-risk quarantine centre at the Dewan Serbaguna Perbadanan Labuan (situated next to the hospital) would be turned into a COVID-19 ward.
“We must be prepared for the worst, if the situation worsens, we have a contingency plan to turn the hostel of Labuan Industrial Training Institute (ITI) as a temporary hospital for non-COVID-19 patients,” he said.
Labuan has recorded 253 new cases, its highest so far, with a new cluster emerging in Simpang Sungai (in a densely-populated village) and one death today.
Labuan, Malaysia’s international business and financial centre has cumulative infections of 3,423, with five active clusters at Layang-Layangan, Victoria Merdeka, Simpang Sahari, Patau-Patau and the latest cluster in Simpang Sungai and its death toll stands at 18.
