See Chee How
SIBU (Sept 17): Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How is calling on the state government and the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to heed the call by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) to outsource Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CACs) and hotlines to general practitioners (GPs) so that patients under home quarantine can be monitored more effectively.
See in a press statement yesterday said he fully supported the call by MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai that Sarawak must emulate the practice done in many other states in the peninsula.
He said the state Health Department and SDMC should take note of the spike in Covid-19 cases and immediately look into outsourcing the CACs and monitoring of Category 1 and 2 home-quarantined patients, to effectively prevent late admissions of severe Covid-19 and Brought In Dead (BID) cases.
“We should urgently look into the engagement of private practitioners and private hospitals to put in place an efficacious network of CACs and hotlines to ensure that Covid-19 patients and close contacts are given access to 24/7 telemedicine services,” he said.
He also said that the community and particularly the patients need time, information and support to be empowered to take responsibility in the prevention of transmission of virus in the community.
According to him, there were many versions of the present national and state Covid-19 mitigation measures framework and timeline in online portals and social network platforms.
This, he added, has caused much confusion and anxiety amongst the common folks and especially the infected patients.
He said at the briefing conducted by SDMC for lawmakers at the State Legislative Assembly Building on Sept 8, the ‘Sarawak Covid-19 Community Mitigation Measures Framework’ was unveiled to assemblymen.
He said the framework, which is said to be drawn up according to the national policy, gives the people an idea of what is to be expected of the government’s response to their notions of ‘post-vaccination era’, treating the novel coronavirus as an ‘endemic’ and how Sarawakians are to ‘live with the virus’.
The Sarawak Covid-19 Community Mitigation Measures Framework. – Photo from See Chee How
“The timeline now looks amiss and details are changed. However, it has given us an idea on the Health Ministry and the state government’s plan to lay focus on community mitigation measures, to ease the burden now largely borne and shouldered by the government.
“It is therefore the expectation of the government that, having completed the stage of contentment and moving into the mitigation phase, the community and the patients are to take responsibility in the prevention of transmission of virus in the community while the various authorities shall focus on ensuring the enforcement and monitoring of compliance towards SOP.
“To convince Sarawakians that this is nothing new, but already a practice in our neighbouring country, citing Singapore, a minister and advisor of SDMC has alluded to the ‘Singapore Covid-19 healthcare protocols’ as reference,” he said.
However, See said the government is not putting in place the same healthcare protocols as is in Singapore.
For example, he said close contacts are not given free Antigen Rapid Test test kits that they would have to self-administer on themselves every day for the duration of their self-isolation and home quarantine, and to report to their Regional Screening Centre every day.
“All Covid-19 patients and close contacts are given access to 24/7 telemedicine services; all close contacts are to take free PCR tests at the start and end of their 10-days quarantine order and so forth.
“It is therefore necessary for the SDMC and the state government to quickly publicise the protocols so that the patients and close contacts are given sufficient time to learn and understand the protocols, free necessary test kits and other needs for the quarantine and isolation period, full information and knowledge of their responsibilities and supporting services and facilities that are available to them,” he said.