JOHOR BARU: The Health Ministry will deploy 1,000 housemen to hospitals nationwide in an effort to ease the burden of doctors who are busy dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak.
Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the deployment will begin on Monday, with a five-day induction course.
"The housemen will be tasked to treat normal cases since a lot of the doctors at the hospitals are dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak," said Dr Adham.
He said the course would also include elements on how to handle the outbreak.
He was speaking to the media after visiting the Permai Hospital here, which is one of the hospitals designated to treat Covid-19 cases.
Also present were state Environment and Health Executive Committee chairman R. Vidyananthan and state health director Dr Aman Rabu.
Dr Adham said the ministry had also asked for assistance from the Home Ministry to deploy Civil Defence Force (APM) and People's Volunteer Force (Rela) personnel at all entry points in the country to help monitor foreign visitors coming into Malaysia.
"This is because we need our public health personnel to conduct tracing and home surveillance. We will start in Johor before widening it nationwide," said Dr Adham.
He also reiterated the government's directive for the public to avoid attending any mass gathering in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
"Any gathering of more than 50 people is considered mass gathering, so the public should avoid them. If they need to go to these gatherings, please practice personal hygiene and respect the social distance of one metre," said Dr Adham.
In a related matter, Dr Adham said 508 people in Johor who attended the 'Tabligh' event at the Seri Petaling Mosque have had come forward to be tested for Covid-19.
"Of that total, 13 are considered patients under investigation (PUI). In total, in Johor there are now 21 patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 and 73 PUI while eight have been discharged," said Dr Adham.
He also said that the ministry had directed all hospitals nationwide to limit the visiting hours.
"I hope private hospitals also follow suit and limit their visiting hours," he said.