KUALA TERENGGANU, June 2 — The hospital bed capacity, including in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Terengganu, is still sufficient to accommodate COVID-19 patients, said state Health director Dr Nor Azimi Yunus.
She said 436 beds were reserved for treating COVID-19 cases in three hospitals in Terengganu, namely 236 beds in Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital (HSNZ), Setiu Hospital (76) and Hulu Terengganu Hospital (124).
“However, taking into account the increase in COVID-19 cases for category three, additional hospital beds are required. Therefore, we have changed the status of 71 out of 162 beds in the Low Risk COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) at the nursing college as additional beds for COVID-19 ward at HSNZ,” she said in a statement posted on her official Facebook page today.
Apart from that, she said the Terengganu Health Department had also added 17 beds in the ICU to treat COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 37 beds.
“As of yesterday, only 14 cases are being treated in the ICU and eight of them require respiratory assistance. The bed occupancy rate in the ICU is still adequate and any COVID-19 patient who needs ICU treatment in Terengganu can be admitted to the ICU,” she said.
Dr Nor Azimi stressed that so far there are five PKRC in Terengganu with a capacity of 2,366 beds and the number is also sufficient to accommodate the current increase in COVID-19 patients.
“As of yesterday, only 1,357 beds (57.4 per cent) are being used. However, if the increase in COVID-19 cases continues, it is not impossible that we may also experience the inadequacy of regular beds or ICU beds to treat COVID-19 cases in Terengganu.
“It is the responsibility of all Terengganu people to remain in compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) so that we can slow down the increase in cases and break the chain of infection immediately,” she said.
