Selangor Journal
Pantai Hospital in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

IHH Healthcare allocates 10 pct of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — IHH Healthcare Malaysia has allocated about 10 per cent of its bed capacity, including intensive care unit (ICU) beds, across its network of 16 hospitals for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Chief executive officer Jean-François Naa said from day one of the pandemic, the company — which operates Gleneagles Hospitals, Pantai Hospitals and Prince Court Medical Centre — had committed to partnering the public healthcare counterparts.

“Since we have a plan in place for managing Covid-19 patients, we are now just executing it. Private hospitals are not built to the same scale as public facilities, but we are contributing our part according to each hospital’s capacity and capability.

“Our command centre tackles operational and clinical challenges in managing Covid-19 patients for optimal and timely care,” he said in a statement today.

Naa said IHH Healthcare Malaysia maintained close communication with the Ministry of Health by sharing essential information and collaborate with the ministry’s clinical experts in managing critical Covid-19 patients.

Being part of a global network, IHH Healthcare Malaysia could leverage the international expertise for adaptative solutions to quickly organise and cascade information such as clinical workflows, management protocols and patient education materials, to consistently safeguard the safety and health of its staff, doctors and patients, he said.

“We stand ready to provide additional assistance as the government requires, including supporting the administration of vaccines as they become available and to receive decanted non-Covid-19 patients,” he added.

IHH had contributed to the fight against Covid-19 since the early days of the pandemic to alleviate the load on public healthcare institutions.

“Since early last year, we have allocated 200 beds across our network of hospitals, to treat non-Covid-19 patients decanted from public hospitals and pledged more than RM24 million to subsidise the medical treatment of these patients at our hospitals,” he said, adding that it also loaned 20 ventilators last year to public hospitals for the treatment of patients in their ICUs.

As a value-added service to help patients who are unable to visit its hospitals, Gleneagles Hospitals, Pantai Hospitals and Prince Court Medical Centre have also launched their telehealth service, an online platform consisting of eHealth Chat and eHealth Consult that connects patients to top specialists.

— Bernama

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