Covid-19: Screening all foreign workers could overwhelm state hospitals, says Sabah Health Dept

  • 📰 staronline
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 55 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 25%
  • Publisher: 75%

Health Health Headlines News

Health Health Latest News,Health Health Headlines

KOTA KINABALU (Bernama): The Sabah Health Department (JKNS) says it will not be able to conduct Covid-19 screening on all foreign workers in the state if that is a prerequisite to allowing economic sectors to operate again.

Its director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said government hospitals in Sabah would face many requests if screenings were made compulsory for all foreign workers."We can't meet the demand if it's going to be done by hospitals because we have our own patients," she told reporters on Tuesday .

On Monday, , Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government would make it compulsory for all foreign workers in Malaysia – including those from the construction, manufacturing and commercial sectors – to undergo Covid-19 swab tests in a bid to help curb the disease from spreading further.

Sabah Health and People's Well-being Minister Datuk Frankie Poon Ming Fung was reported by a news portal as saying that that the state would not be able to carry out tests on 100,000 foreign workers in the state as there was insufficient Covid-19 reagent test kits. In the meantime, Dr Christina said the Department was facilitating some employers wanting to reopen their businesses as well as advising them to comply with the standard operating procedure since the Covid-19 pandemic had yet to end.

"Everyone must understand this situation. It is not just about going back to work as normal, but employers must ensure that screenings are done, social distancing is practised and face masks and disinfectants are used," she said. – Bernama

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 4. in HEALTH

Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Covid-19: Focus on preventive measures, Sabah business owners told | New Straits TimesNSTnation 'JKNS is hoping that relevant parties do not take quick fixes by just focusing on laboratory results as part of the criteria to operate as usual.' Sabah coronavirus covid19
Source: NST_Online - 🏆 17. / 53 Read more »

Sabah unable to screen all foreign workers for Covid-19 | The Malaysian InsightState health chief says it will inundate govt hospitals.
Source: msianinsight - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »

Singapore Health Minister warns of marathon battle against Covid-19SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore must dig in for a long battle against the coronavirus outbreak but will consider further easing the circuit breaker measures in a month’s time, if the situation improves, Parliament was told on Monday (May 4).
Source: staronline - 🏆 4. / 75 Read more »

Global survey shows Covid-19 health fears outweigh concern for economy | Malay MailLONDON, May 5 — A substantial majority of people around the world want their governments to prioritise saving lives over moves to restart economies being hammered by measures aimed at halting the spread of the new coronavirus, a global survey found. The latest findings of the “Edelman Trust...
Source: malaymail - 🏆 1. / 86 Read more »