Dr Sim (right) having a chat with SGH personnel during his visit.
KUCHING (Apr 28): A total of 373 Covid-19 positive cases were recorded from admissions at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) during the hospital’s Epidemiological Week (EW) 16 between April 19 and 25, said State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
He said the hospital has an average of 69 admissions of Covid-19 positive cases and person under investigation (PUI) cases per day during EW 16.
“The highest admission recorded was 103 on April 25,” he said in a Facebook post.
Dr Sim said he was briefed on the status by SGH director Dr Ngien Hie Ung who updated the Local Government and Housing Minister on the admission trend of Covid-19 at the hospital following his visit to SGH Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“For the past one month, SGH has recorded a significant increase in the number of cases.
“The number of admissions steadily increased since EW 6 in 2021,” he said, adding that a steep surge of cases was recorded from 250 cases to 481 cases in EW 15.
He said currently, the average bed occupancy rates (BOR) at SGH for EW 16 were 74.57 per cent for Covid-19 wards (designated wards for positive cases and high-risk severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) or PUI cases); 80.95 per cent for critical care (ventilated bed allocated for positive cases and high-risk SARI or PUI cases); and 79.13 per cent for quarantine and low-risk patients treatment centres (PKRC).
“This means that there is still room for optimal care for such cases,” he added.
EW is a standardised method of counting weeks to allow for the comparison of data year after year.
On the status of ICU at SGH, Dr Sim said he was informed that 58.7 per cent of the beds available at the unit are occupied with Covid-19 cases.
“Originally we had 18 beds in ICU. Now we have repurposed the Clinical Research Centre (CRC) Ward (10 beds) and extension wards (eight beds) for critical care cases.
“So now we have 36 ICU beds,” he added.
He also pointed out that 12 out of the 18 beds in ICU have been assigned for Covid-19 cases, including high-risk SARI and PUI cases.
“The rest of the beds in CRC Ward and extension ward are all for clean ICU patients.
“In the meantime, the ICU is also occupied with other non Covid-19 cases which require intensive care and treatment,” he said.
On another matter, Dr Sim gave his assurance to SGH that he will follow up with the Ministry of Health on the additional RM2.3 million-allocation to upgrade the hospital’s ICU.
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