SERDANG: In between buildings at the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC) Integrated 2.0 area sits a negative pressure air bubble tent with its equipment akin to a hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with patients to boot.
Equipped with four beds, six chairs and equipment for resuscitation as in the ICU, the MAEPS Acute Resuscitation And Isolation Area (MARIA) acts as a temporary ICU.
It is capable of accommodating 10 critical Covid-19 category four patients at any one time who need to be stabilised and requiring oxygen before being sent to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for further treatment.
MAEPS PKRC clinical deputy director 1 Dr Marzilawati Abd Rahman said that if the conditions of Covid-19 category 1 patients without symptoms, category 2 with mild symptoms and category 3, namely, patients with pneumonia at the MAEPS PKRC deteriorate, they will be admitted to MARIA to be resuscitated and stabilised all within six hours before being sent to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for further treatment.
“But the cases at the moment are very high, so there were also cases which we are forced to hold up to 12 hours before sending them to Sungai Buloh due to bed constraints at the hospital,” she told Bernama.
Dr Marzilawati said MARIA, which was activated in January, is being manned by 40 to 45 personnel daily comprising specialist doctors, medical officers, assistant medical officers and nurses who work in two shifts, namely, morning and evening.
According to Dr Marzilawati, at the outset of its establishment, the number of category 4 patients treated at MARIA was less than 10 people.
But lately, she said, following the hike in positive Covid-19 cases in the country, it received between 50 to 60 patients a day.
“It is estimated that 10 per cent of category 3 patients would deteriorate or change to category 4 whereby they require oxygen tanks. Cases that require oxygen therapy we treat at MARIA and then the patients are sent to the Sungai Buloh Hospital.
“It is better for such cases to be provided with continuous oxygen in the hospital which can also treat patients more efficiently and effectively,” she said.
Other than stabilising those patients with breathing problems, Dr Marzilawati said MARIA also treats patients with other ailments such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problem.
“Patients may have other health problems such as diabetes which may not be under control upon admission to the MAEPS PKRC. So, we treat the patients first for several hours (at MARIA) and admit them to the MAEPS PKRC after they have improved.
“There are also cases of patients who suddenly developed chest pains requiring them to be treated at the hospital. So, we treat them first here (MARIA) before sending them to the hospital for further treatments,’’ she said.
Dr Marzilawati said 80 per cent of patients who were treated at MARIA were those requiring oxygen or category 4 while the rest were due to medical illnesses.
She said that to accommodate the increase in patients taken to MARIA, the temporary treatment centre was connected to HALL B, which acted as a support unit to MARIA with a capacity of 60 beds.
As of May 26, MAEPS PKRC had a capacity of 5,648 beds with over 75 per cent occupied by patients who were mostly from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. – Bernama
