KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is urging the Health Ministry to re-strategise and rope in more people to combat the current manpower shortage issues.
MMA president Professor Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said manpower shortage has worsened, especially in the Klang Valley where cases are the highest.
"There is an acute shortage of manpower at the district level and at government clinics, where the staff at these departments are struggling to cope with the surge in Covid-19 cases.
"Currently, the health district officers are tasked with duties of triaging, screening, assessing, contact tracing, monitoring and home-monitoring of category 1 and 2 of Covid-19 patients.
"Apart from this, they also manage acute and chronic non-Covid-19 cases everyday.
"These medical personnel feel like they are being pulled in every direction and with the surge in cases, the system is on the verge of collapse.
"If this issue is not addressed immediately, it could compromise the standard of care and further burnout among healthcare personnel," he said in a statement, today.
Dr Subramaniam said the ministry cannot afford to wait for the situation to worsen.
"Immediate action should be taken instead.
"The virus has spread within communities and therefore we can expect cases to continue rising in the coming weeks.
"At this point, the ministry should consider roping in housemen awaiting posting, medical students, nursing students and also medical assistants with basic medical knowledge and training to help on the ground, especially with contact tracing," he said.
Apart from roping in more people, the association called for the ministry to go on a digitalised-documentation system.
"They should go paperless and digitalise paperwork as much as possible as it can greatly reduce the time staff spends on paperwork.
"For example, the monitoring of Covid-19 category 1 and 2 cases should be digitalised and linked to the MySejahtera mobile application.
"With proper monitoring and coordination enabled through digitalisation, more private general practitioners (GPs) would be willing to participate in its programme.
"Especially when more efficient usage of is needed at district health offices and government clinics as the number of persons-under-investigation (PUI), persons-under-surveillance (PUS) as well as Covid-19 patients are on the rise," he said.
Pandemic management, he said, should be simplified to ensure highest standard of care is maintained, as the medical personnel are overwhelmed.
"The ministry must realise that they cannot take on this fight against Covid-19 on its own.
"It is time for the government to rope in the service of private practitioners, especially to help with the handling of non-Covid-19 cases.
"For a nominal fee, the non-Covid-19 acute and chronic cases can be outsourced to private clinics or private hospitals.
"This will allow the ministry to focus its resources on managing Covid-19.
"They need all the help they can get right now, the whole of society and whole of nation approach should be put in practice," he said.