KOTA KINABALU: With the Khairy Jamaluddin ‘s working visit to Sabah next Monday, will the state see more assistance and solution to increasing Covid-19 in state?

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor will be meeting with the new Health Minister and among the issues to be discussed include the bed shortage at hospitals.

Hajiji had said that the state government would support the special motion by Pakatan Harapan Kadamaian assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick and Luyang’s Ginger Phoong to enact law for Sabah to handle health issue. However, it will depend on the speaker.

STAR president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan had also agreed to it but such a motion is aptly proposed when two criteria fulfilled- an enactment to give jurisdiction to state Health ministry and adequate funds to run the operation.

As for the appointment of former Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Shirlin as Khairy’s special advisor, it is hoped that the Sabahan could help the ministry to better understand situation in Sabah.

Covid-19 cases have been hovering around 2,000 every day with two-digits of deaths, even so, it does not represent the exact situation as there is a limitation in terms of testing facility.

ICU beds at Sabah hospitals have reached its maximum whereby the usage is at 126 per cent.

Doctors were quoted anonymously that the medical fraternity had to make tough choice on providing treatment to Covid-19 stricken patients . The priority would be on those with better prognosis which are the younger people and without co-morbidities.

Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun had said several times in its statements that there were many backlogs that reflected between two days and up to a week after those swab tests were taken.

The burden at government healthcare was also shared in the media whereby Sandakan hospital had to loan oxygen tanks from other districts to cope with more infected patients requiring oxygen therapy.

Low vaccination rate contributed to the severity of infection cases especially the elderly and those with commorbidities. Sabah Health director Dr Rose Nani had said that up to 90 per cent of those at intensive care units are unvaccinated.

Despite the government had expressed their confidence that Sabah will achieve herd immunity by year, but as of today, the number of fully vaccination among total population is less than 30 per cent.

Kinabatangan district recorded the lowest vaccinated out of 148,600 people, which is at 16.2 per cent. Its official cited the reluctance of the people, geographical factors and logistics were the main factors .

The constituency of Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin also saw high number of foreigners who work at the plantations, locals who live at coastal, islands and river areas.

As the vaccination is only focusing on those above 18, many children including those below a-year-old are also infected with the virus. The Health Ministry had disclosed 47 deaths out of 322,694 of those under 18.