Paramedics of the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) dismantle a ‘deployable rapid assembly shelter’ following the closure of Covid-19 Labuan Field Hospital, July 26, 2021. — Bernama pic
LABUAN, July 26 — With the positive turnaround in the Covid-19 situation here, the one-month old Covid-19 Labuan Field Hospital is ceasing operations and is in the process of being dismantled.
Labuan Disaster Management Committee chairman Rithuan Ismail said its medical equipment and inflatable tents were being removed and that all these facilities, which belong to the Ministry of Defence (MinDef) and Mercy Malaysia, would be relocated to the peninsula for the purpose of handling the increasing cases there.
“We must be thankful to the MinDef and Mercy Malaysia for helping us in the setting up of the Covid-19 field hospital here the dismantling of the medical equipment and tents will be completed today, some medical equipment like X-ray machines (belonging to the Labuan Hospital) will remain in the premises,” he told Bernama.
He said the closure of the Labuan Covid-19 Field Hospital marked Labuan’s frontliners’ success in flattening the curve of Covid-19 infections on the duty-free island.
“The Labuan healthcare system was at risk of collapsing when the spike in Covid-19 infections reached an alarming level the field hospital has greatly helped us in handling the increase in category three and four (more severe categories) Covid-19 patients,” he said.
The field hospital, which started its operations on June 27, had a capacity of 100 beds including four beds in the transit intensive care unit (ICU). It was manned by eight doctors and 30 paramedics and with the support of Mercy Malaysia, had been handling 80 patients in categories three and four mostly.
Rithuan said the Labuan Corporation’s Multipurpose Hall which was used for the field hospital would be reused as a quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC) and Covid-19 assessment centre (CAC).
“The transfer of the category two, three and four patients to the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) quarantine centre and Labuan Nucleus Hospital’s Covid-19 wards from the field had been completed last Saturday.
“We expect the quarantine centre operations at the multipurpose hall will commence on Thursday,” he added.
He added that the number of active cases in Labuan dropped significantly to 340 as of yesterday (July 25), compared to more than 2,000 in the last two weeks.
Labuan recorded eight new cases with no deaths today. — Bernama