The medical personnel at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, among the main medical treatment centres in the fight against the Covid-19, are breathing a sigh of relief after seeing a drop in the number of categories three, four and five Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalisation.
This was especially so for coronavirus patients requiring admission to semi-critical or Intensive Care Unit (ICU) over the last five days.
The was evident as the yellow zone (semi-critical) at the hospital's Emergency Department, which used to receive and is the first line of treatment for Covid-19 patients, has been converted into the care and treatment for non-Covid-19 patients being admitted for other illnesses, such as heart attack, diabetes and appendicitis.
Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Kamal Batcha, 40, an emergency and trauma services consultant at the hospital, and his colleagues are breathing easier following the decrease in admissions involving category three, four and five Covid-19 patients over the last five days in the Klang Valley.
"Before this, this was a semi-critical zone for Covid-19 patients.
"And because of the high number of patients at the time, we were struggling to cope and were short of space.
"We even had to put patients on canvas beds in the zone because we had our hands full with so many patients, more than 70 at one time when the capacity is only 20.
"Now we have converted it back to being a non-Covid-19 patient ward because of the decrease in category three to five Covid-19 patients over the last couple of days.
"Just last week, we were still treating Covid-19 patients in this semi-critical zone."
Dr Ibrahim said even though medical personnel no longer treated Covid-19 patients in the yellow zone, they continued to take precautions against the coronavirus.
This can be seen from medical personnel wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as some patients initially test negative for Covid-19 but later end up testing positive.
He said up to yesterday at two ICU wards treating category four and five patients, one ward had just three patients while the other had five patients. Each ward can accommodate up to 12 patients.
Hospital director Dr Rohana Johan, who took up her position on July 19, also expressed relief about the drop in category four and five patients.
"The situation at the Emergency and Trauma Department has seen a welcome decrease in Covid-19 patients over the last couple of days, which has led to things being more organised and calm.
"This is courtesy of the joint and concerted effort and initiatives by the Health Ministry, the Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force, the armed forces, the Civil Defence Department and volunteers who helped to alleviate the strain on the hospital and its personnel.
"Before (this), we would have up to 200 or more Covid-19 patients waiting to be admitted, but of late, we are receiving only about 20 patients.
"This goes to show that there is progress in the fight against the pandemic".
Dr Rohana attributed this to the effectiveness of the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme, which can be seen from the less critical stage patients from category four and five being admitted.
Now, she said, most infection cases were in category one and two, which does not require hospital admission but most are home quarantined.
"As we are all aware, vaccines do help."
She called on all to continue adhering to the standard operating procedures, keep wearing face masks, sanitise hands, maintain social distancing, remain indoors and go out only when necessary, and to get vaccinated.
On Saturday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said with more people being vaccinated, the use of intensive care unit beds for category three to five patients in Labuan, Sarawak, Negri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya had seen a drop.
He said that when the full vaccination rate among the adult population (18 and above) in Labuan reached 63.4 per cent, Sarawak (55.7 per cent), Negri Sembilan (40.1 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (78.3 per cent) and Putrajaya (69.3 per cent), there had been a reduction in the admission of category three to five patients to hospitals and ICUs.
He said other states had not shown a declining trend as the percentage of those completing both doses was still low.