KUCHING: The Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) has laid out detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs) to protect its healthcare workers from Covid-19.
State Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing said the measures include strengthening infection control practices, enforcing social distancing among the frontliners, screening all patients admitted to the hospital for Covid-19, providing face masks to all patients and those caring for them, enhancing regular disinfection on high-risk surfaces and have designated teams to take care of specific wards.
“We will also do active case detection (ACD) among our healthcare workers and we will make sure to pick up any case among them. If they have the disease, we will quarantine them and put them under treatment and so on,” he said during a press conference on daily Covid-19 update yesterday.
He was responding to social media posts which raised people’s doubts on the credibility of SGH due to the number of positive cases among the staff members.
He said not all staff members were infected at the same time, but over a one-month period and 33 of them had recovered.
“We will continue to try our best to make sure there are no further infections. We are taking the necessary steps to prevent that,” he continued.
He also refuted claims that the authorities were considering shutting down SGH.
“So far, we are busy handling the Covid-19 situation so we do not have the time to entertain rumours (on SGH to be shut down),” he said.
At the same time, Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said to ensure that the frontliners are equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) when on duty, the state government has allocated RM10 million for purchasing them.
“The state Health Department has also purchased PPE worth RM7 million which is expected to arrive in May. We also received contributions from corporate bodies.
“In addition, we also prepared placement centres and food for frontliners in hotels for their convenience,” he said.
