KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are urged to take heed of the Movement Control Order (MCO), which took effect yesterday, or government hospitals would be overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr N Ganabaskaran in a statement today said should Malaysians continue to ignore the order, cases of infections may rise further similar to the situation in Italy.
“The people in Italy continued to congregate, attend mass gatherings and social activities in the beginning when cases started to rise and now there are 35,713 cases and 2,978 deaths from Covid-19 reported there,” he said.
Dr Ganabaskaran said adults and the younger generation living with older adults must stay at home and avoid non-essential travel.
“There is a danger of bringing home infections to older adults who are at higher risk of infection and complications that can even lead to death,” he said.
Dr Ganabaskaran said Malaysia has about 135 government hospitals, nine special medical institutes, 926 units of ventilators in intensive care unit (ICU) facilities, 152 non-invasive ventilators, 142 transport ventilators, and 210 private hospitals.
“Hospitals may not be able to cope if the cases continue to rise at the current rates of increase in cases of Covid-19.
“Furthermore, the health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had also warned that if there is no improvement, the MCO may be extended.”
Dr Ganabaskaran said the extension of MCO will cause even further, more serious economic problems for the country such as loss of jobs, income, and businesses shutting down.
In the statement, MMA also urged other ministries to do more in ensuring the public gets the message loud and clear.
“The Communications and Multimedia Ministry has a key role in making sure that the importance of strict compliance to the MCO is multilingually communicated everywhere even on the streets through signage and banners.
“The public must be aware of the seriousness and dire consequences of non-compliance to the MCO.”
Dr Ganabaskaran said the MMA was confident that with full compliance to the MCO, the country will soon see a decline in cases.
“We urge the public to be patient during this time and give its full support to the authorities in carrying out their duties.”
Beginning yesterday, Malaysia was put under MCO nationwide until March 31, in an effort to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection in the country.
Malaysia is now by far the worst-affected Covid-19 country in Southeast Asia.