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IMPROVEMENTS are urgently needed in the Health Ministry’s handling of mild cases of Covid-19 (category 1 and 2) and their close contacts to eliminate confusion and prevent possible flouting of the home quarantine standard operating procedures (SOPs) that can lead to an increase in community transmissions.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) once again urges the Health Ministry to revert to its earlier policy of testing all close contacts. The ministry’s current policy is to only test symptomatic close contacts.
In its preventive measures, only isolating them will not be sufficient. The health status of all close contacts should be established early, or there can be risk of infections spreading among family members in the household and into the community if they breach the quarantine. Screening close contacts will also improve management of early symptoms of Covid-19.
MMA had earlier proposed that the government consider roping in the private general practitioners (GPs) to test close contacts if it is faced with a shortage in manpower.
More awareness and clarity are also needed on the SOPs for home quarantine, as many are still unclear. Cases are at an all-time high now – therefore, the government cannot afford to take these issues lightly.
Efforts must be increased to educate the public on the home quarantine SOPs and the ministry’s Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC), by frequently publishing it on all available media including outdoor media – especially in areas with high populations – in simple Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin and Tamil to ensure that it is understood by all Malaysians.
There is a total of 213 CACs nationwide to conduct assessments of Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment at their respective homes.
It must also be assumed that not every citizen follows the daily news updates – therefore, a more strategic approach and appropriate selection of media to communicate these messages is needed.
The Communications and Multimedia Ministry should increase its efforts to ensure the Health Ministry’s messages on the CAC and home quarantine SOPs are well communicated at every level.
Recently, there have been a number of reports in the media on confirmed Covid-19 cases who either waited days for a call from the District Health Offices (PKD), or had difficulty contacting them.
Although the SOPs for home quarantine can be accessed via the MySejahtera app and via the Health Ministry's official website, some of the confirmed positive cases were not aware and needed to speak to someone from the ministry.
We should expect that those who had just been diagnosed with Covid-19 might be overcome with anxiety and will try desperately to contact the department in charge for assistance and guidance on the next steps to be taken. It must also be assumed that there will be elderly citizens who would use the phone to call, therefore every call should be treated with urgency.
It was reported in the media three days ago that when the husband of an executive editor with the New Straits Times was confirmed Covid-19 positive, she, her children and aunt (identified as close contacts) were only called in for testing two days after their quarantine had ended – hence, they were without the pink bracelets for 10 days.
Last month, in another case, Ms Yong, 49, and her five family members in Petaling Jaya who tested positive at a private laboratory’s drive-through Covid-19 screening service had waited at home for three days for a phone call from the ministry.
Her parents-in-law were in the high-risk group of complications and had developed more severe symptoms. The call did not come, and neither was there an ambulance sent to the home.
Her calls to the Sungai Buloh hospital were also not picked up. Worried over her in-laws’ worsening symptoms, she paid RM2,000 to hire two private ambulances to send them to a hospital.
An entrepreneur faced similar issues upon testing positive last month. He decided to recover at home as there was no call from the PKD. His calls to the Covid-19 hotline set up by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) went unanswered, while his messages to their dedicated WhatsApp number were also met with no response.
These are cases that have been reported in the media – but we are concerned, there may be many others facing similar issues that have gone unreported. Many could be similarly in the dark over the SOPs.
We fear that not all individuals will be as responsible in taking the home quarantine seriously; hence, we urge the government to urgently address these issues and make the necessary improvements – or we could see cases of Covid-19 rise even higher in the near future. – The Vibes, February 6, 2021
Professor Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy is MMA president.
