Press Statement by Kelvin Yii:
Today, on behalf of DAP Sarawak, we paid a short visit to the designated COVID-19 Screening Centre at Kompleks Belia & Sukan, Kuching to handover 200 sets of PPEs worth RM 16,000 to the frontliners to better protect them any risk of infection from the virus especially when taking swabs from PUIs.
We were informed of the lack in PPEs in the centre, so we try our best to respond to the need as we believe that if we better protect our frontliners, they can serve our people better as well, as we also reduce the risk or possibility of them spreading it to their love ones.
That will give them a peace of mind as they concentrate to treat and care for our community.
We were informed of the centre normally test up to 200 PUIs a day and have about 60-70 staff working in each shift form 8am-5pm everyday. The staff have to wear the full protective suit even in the hot conditions, as airconds are not encouraged as it is always better to have an open air environment when involving this infectious disease.
Of course we do regret the lack of supplies of PPEs to provide proper protection for our health workers and front liners. Even as we enter into the third phase – the fifth week of MCO – we are still facing an issue of lack of PPEs for our healthcare workers as many other facilities are still asking help from the public to assist on getting PPE to our front liners.
While the public is more than happy to respond and help our frontliners and they have been doing this since day 1, but technically if the government is doing the procurement in bulk, with transparency, integrity and free of corrupt elements, the prices should be much cheaper than just relying on donation efforts from the public.
Even with the big announcement of the shipment of supplies from China which is well welcomed, but even so, our facilities now are still in lack of this essential supplies. This is an issue that needs to be properly addressed as we cannot fail our front liners.
The Federal and State Government should have a more concerted effort to procure and secure all the supplies at the quickest possible time, including removing unnecessary bureaucracy for proper distributions to the hospitals, clinics and screening centres.
This also include mobilising different ministries to ensure smooth production line, encourage more new ventures into the medical supply industry, and also to fast track approval for them to increase our national stockpile.
We all have a part to play in this battle as we take care of one another. Stay home, stay safe.
