The Heath Ministry’s new Covid-19 website is most welcome but the Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin had still to honour his undertaking in Kota Kinabalu on Monday to give more details about the high Brought-in-Dead (BID) Covid-19 deaths.
Khairy had said in Kota Kinabalu on Monday that the high number of Covid-19 deaths reported daily did not reflect the actual number of fresh deaths that occur within 24 hours, as the numbers were sometimes piled up over several days as the authorities need time to confirm the cause of death, especially in places like the Klang Valley.
When Khairy said that the daily death reports were not necessarily from the last 24 hours, as there was “a long backlog because we have to confirm the cause of death is from Covid-19 and not something else”, he was clearly saying that the BID Covid-19 death figures should be very much higher.
He promised to make further announcements and explanations on the high number of Brought-in-Dead (BID) Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday after he got new data but Khairy has still to keep to his undertaking.
The high BID Covid-19 deaths were basically an August phenomenon, as in July there were some 500 BID Covid-19 deaths which tripled in August to over 1,600 cases.
In the first ten days of Khairy as the new Heath Minister, the Health Ministry reported 876 BID Covid-19 deaths, which is more than thrice the total number of BID Covid-19 deaths in the first 10 days of August.
Now, Khairy says that these BID Covid-19 figures are a serious under-estimate and this is the reason why Malaysians are expecting Khairy to give the full and true picture and the reason why I have asked how many corpses are in the hospitals, giving state-by-state figures, which are not recorded in the Ministry of Health data on Covid-19 because they are awaiting Covid-19 tests.
From the new website, it would appear that there is a total of 3,417 BID Covid-19 deaths out the cumulative total of 19,486 deaths, representing 17.5% which is too high a figure especially as it has escalated in recent weeks. For instance, on Sept. 8, it was over 30% as there were 102 BID Covid-19 deaths out of a daily total of 361 Covid-19 deaths – which according to Khairy, is a serious underestimate.
Khairy must take urgent measures to cut down the high BID Covid-19 figures, and I welcome his decision that all Category Three Covid-19 patients be sent to quarantine centres along with the high-risk in Category Two cases.
More should be done to slash the high BID Covid-19 death rates and Khairy should welcome ideas and suggestions from both the public and private health sectors.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, September 10, 2021)
Laman web baharu yang menyediakan maklumat terkini berkaitan Covid-19 amat dialu-alukan, tetapi, Menteri Kesihatan, Khairy Jamaluddin masih belum mengotakan janjinya untuk memberikan lebih banyak perincian berhubung angka kes BID akibat Covid-19 yang begitu tinggi
Laman web baharu yang menyediakan maklumat terkini berkaitan Covid-19 oleh Kementerian Kesihatan amat dialu-alukan, tetapi, Menteri Kesihatan, Khairy Jamaluddin masih belum mengotakan janjinya di Kota Kinabalu pada Isnin lalu untuk memberikan lebih banyak perincian berhubung angka kematian yang dibawa ke hospital (BID) akibat Covid-19 yang begitu tinggi.
Semasa Khairy berkata yang angka kematian ini tidak semestinya daripada 24 jam yang lepas kerana terdapat backlog yang panjang untuk mengesahkan punca kematian, beliau jelas sekali mengatakan yang kadar kematian BID akibat Covid-19 ini sebenarnya jauh lebih tinggi.
Beliau berjanji untuk membuat pengumuman dan penjelasan lanjut mengenai angka BID yang tinggi pada Rabu selepas beliau mendapatkan data baharu namun sehingga kini Khairy masih belum menunaikan janjinya itu.
Peningkatan jumlah kes BID yang begitu tinggi dilihat banyak berlaku dalam bulan Ogos, kerana pada Julai terdapat kira-kira 500 kes BID yang mana meningkat tiga kali ganda kepada lebih 1,600 kes pada bulan Ogos.
Dalam tempoh sepuluh hari sejak Khairy menjadi Menteri Kesihatan yang baharu, Menteri Kesihatan melaporkan terdapat 876 kes BID, yang mana tiga kali ganda jumlah BID yang dilaporkan sepanjang 10 hari pertama bulan Ogos.
Kini, Khairy berkata bahawa angka kes BID yang dilaporkan sebenarnya dianggarkan kurang daripada angka sebenar dan inilah sebabnya mengapa rakyat Malaysia mengharapkan Khairy untuk memberikan gambaran sebenar dan sepenuhnya berhubung isu ini dan juga menjadi sebab mengapa saya mendesak agar beliau mengumumkan berapa banyak jumlah mayat yang berada di hospital, untuk setiap negeri, yang mana tidak direkodkan dalam data Covid-19 Kementerian Kesihatan kerana mereka masih menantikan hasil keputusan saringan Covid-19.
Menurut laman web baharu berkenaan, terdapat 3,419 daripada 19,486 kes kematian keseluruhan yang dicatatkan adalah kes BID, atau bersamaan 17.5%, yang mana merupakan angka yang begitu tinggi. Sebagai contoh, 30% daripada 361 kes kematian yang dicatatkan pada 8 September adalah kes BID — yang menurut Khairy jauh lebih rendah daripada anggaran.
Khairy harus mengambil langkah-langkah segera bagi mengurangkan angka kes BID, dan saya menyambut baik keputusan beliau untuk menghantar semua pesakit Covid-19 kategori tiga dan kategori dua yang berisiko tinggi ke pusat kuarantin.
Banyak yang perlu dilakukan oleh Khairy untuk menurunkan angka kes BID yang tinggi dan beliau harus mendengar pandangan dan idea daripada sektor kesihatan awam dan swasta berhubung perkara itu.
(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada Jumaat, 10 September 2021)