PUTRAJAYA: The temporary hospital to cater to Covid-19 patients at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) will only be used when necessary.
Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the number of hospital beds that can cater to Covid-19 patients were sufficient at the moment, as the number of infected cases now seems to have stabilised at around 150 per day.
"If we get about 1,000 cases a day, then we are forced to use the temporary hospital. This is for cases where, either the patient has no symptoms but tests positive or non-positive but with mild symptoms.
"It is not for those with a respiratory problem,” he told a press conference here today.
He said the facility at MAEPS had 600 beds.
Dr Noor Hisham said currently the ministry had 19,200 beds ready for Covid-19 patients at all of the ministry's Health Training institutes nationwide.
"At first, the ministry planned to have 3,400 beds but when we added the training institutes, we have an additional 16,200 beds.
"We will only use MAEPS if there is an increase in cases in Kuala Lumpur for example,” he said.
Asked if there were more places that will be used as temporary hospitals aside from MAEPS, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry will make a decision when necessary.
He said if needed, the ministry will use halls (dewan) and indoor stadiums to treat Covid-19 patients.
When asked if the ministry was looking into mobilising more medical practitioners, Dr Noor Hisham said that so far, there were an additional 3,000 staff who had gone through the first intake on March 16.