Frontliners may be on pills to help them cope: Masidi

Kota Kinabalu: A Sabah Minister does not discount the possibility that health personnel in the State are on certain pills to help them cope with the enormous pressure of dealing with the surge in Covid-19 cases.

State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, who is the State’s official spokesman on Covid-19, said he wouldn’t be surprised because the frontliners in Sabah are subject to great pressure in the current working environment.

“But the extent to which that problem has affected them is still not known because there is no report available at the moment,” he said.

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“I believe the hospitals are trying their best. We are going through an exceptionally challenging period. All frontliners are under tremendous pressure, especially in a big State like Sabah.

“Considering the fact that our facilities may not be as good as in Peninsular Malaysia, we need to work twice as hard.”

Masidi said he was also unsure of the kind of medication the healthcare workers may be taking.

“Perhaps we’ll get the health department to confirm but the point is that it is expected when they are under a lot of pressure.

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“Like any other human being, at times, you may end up having to take some medication to stay alert and ensure you continue doing your job,” he said.

He was responding to a FMT report earlier on a claim by a healthcare worker that some doctors in the intensive care unit have resorted to taking sleeping pills because of overwork and stress.

The individual, who declined to be named, said nurses are also in tears because they are overworked, stressed and anxious worrying about having to face patients infected with the virus.

The personnel claimed this was mainly due to a shortage in manpower as those deployed from the peninsula to Sabah are inexperienced besides having to spend time under quarantine first.

To this, Masidi said the Health Department informed him that personnel mobilised from the peninsula had been able to adapt quite fast to the situation in Sabah.

“I believe it didn’t take long for them to adapt although perhaps the situation here is different from what they experienced in the peninsula. Normally they will take several days to acclimatise.

“Suffice to say the Health Department has not experienced any situation where personnel from the peninsula were unable to adapt.”