by NURUL SUHAIDI / pic by BERNAMA

THE admission of Covid-19 patients in the paediatric wards of private hospitals is on the rise in the past two weeks. 

According to the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM), although some of its member hospitals had not reported any paediatric Covid-19 admissions, they still had high positive cases with very mild symptoms. 

Its president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said almost all private hospitals have not reported a high number of critical Covid-19 patients with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). 

“However, there have been a few cases which progressed into this complication and it could be alarming if there is an increase,” he said in a statement yesterday. 

As for prevention, he said paediatricians in private hospitals have been updated on the management of the complications and APHM will be conducting webinars presented by paediatricians at public hospital this week. 

He also strongly urged parents to get their children vaccinated quickly, especially as the vaccination programme for children between the ages of five and 11 years has commenced in some private hospitals.
“It is very important to protect 

children from getting into the complications of Covid-19 as the condition of MIS-C can be a challenge to manage and treat,” Dr Kuljit said. 

Meanwhile, for adult patients, private hospitals have recorded an increase in ward admissions for Categories 1 to 3, but the intensive care unit (ICU) admission has declined compared to the middle of last year.

“Our small number of ICU admission involves comorbid patients, the unvaccinated or those who had not received the booster dose,” he added. 

Dr Kuljit also said private hospitals have never used Ivermectin to treat Covid-19 patients and noted that it has been proven to not be effective. 

“We will stick to evidence-based treatment with guidance from the Health Ministry MoH.”

It was previously reported that there has been a worrying increase in Covid-19 cases among paediatric patients with 16,959 children nationwide recorded to be Covid-19 positive this year. 

In response to this, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said MoH will continue to monitor the hospitalisation record among children for further intervention. 

Malaysia recorded 27,179 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total of active cases to 3,273,958, where 1,520 patients were admitted into the hospital with 286 in the ICU. 

Out of the total hospital admissions, 545 cases (35.9%) were of Categories 3, 4, and 5 and another 975 cases (64.1%) were of Categories 1 and 2. 

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah noted that Covid-19 patients requiring ventilators increased to 180 patients or 37% of the total ventilators for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients. 

From 172 cases in Categories 3 and above, 51 cases involved patients who were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated; 91 cases had received two doses of vaccine without booster; and 30 cases from patients with booster shots.