PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Koh Kar Chai (pix) said Malaysia has been faring well in dealing with the pandemic compared with some countries, although certain aspects could have been better executed.
“The main face-saving factor is that we have had no comparable precedence of this magnitude to learn from.
“Our frontliners are still stretched as although the Omicron variant is relatively mild, the large numbers of positive cases are threatening to overwhelm our public sector primary care centres, as they need to manage the vaccination programme and run Covid assessment centres, which includes swabbing and assessment of cases, on top of daily outpatient cases,” he said.
“To overcome this, categories 1 and 2 patients are being quarantined at home and monitored virtually.”
Koh added that there was a system being employed on the MySejahtera app, which would enable efficient management of positive cases.
“Private sector general practitioners are also being enrolled into this system with the aim of reducing the workload of the public sector.
“Self-empowerment of patients to enable self and virtual monitoring will result in a more efficient way of managing the current high number of positive cases,” said Koh.
“The message from the frontliners at ground level is that their welfare needs to be looked into so that they can deliver their services in an efficient manner without worries of their own mental, physical and financial health.
“Although ‘burnout’ is not an issue that is (being frequently discussed) as compared to the early days of the pandemic, it is still a reality that is lingering.”
Koh also said public and private healthcare sectors need to work together in order to fight the Covid battle and for the nation to progress into the endemic phase.
“The collaboration between public and private healthcare sectors is crucial if we are to manage this pandemic and it is also needed as we transition to an endemic state.
“The public is reminded that they also need to be responsible in this fight against Covid-19 and not leave it up to healthcare professionals and other authorities,” he added.
“The people needs to do their part to overcome the pandemic by following the standard operating procedures, wearing masks, sanitising and also washing their hands regularly in order to help our frontliners.”
