150 volunteers to assist COVID-19 assessment centres in Selangor

SHAH ALAM: A total of 150 additional volunteers will be mobilised to help smoothen the operations at COVID-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) in Selangor, especially at the Malawati Stadium here.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the volunteers comprised civil servants, local authority enforcement officers, medical staff at Selcare clinics and medical students from private universities, who would assist in managing traffic and COVID-19 patients as well as conducting assessments on patients.

"Other facilities such as 20 units of tents equipped with fans, chairs and PA system have also been provided at the Malawati Stadium CAC yesterday for the convenience of the public," he said in a statement today.

In a related development, Amirudin said the state government have agreed to set up a call centre, to be managed by volunteers, to help reduce CAC's burden to conduct home assessments.

Besides that, he said the state government also proposed that private clinics and medical facilities (private CAC) with general practitioners be given the permission to implement Home Surveillance Order (HSO) and provide quarantine wristbands to individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 and close contacts.

As such, he said COVID-19 patients could go to private CAC instead of district CAC, and there were 65 general practitioners in the state who have been given permission to implement the HSO.

Amiruddin said special counters would be set up at the Malawati Stadium from next week for the removal of quarantine wristbands and release from home quarantine.

"This will reduce congestion and infection risk to those who have completed their quarantine," he said.

Meanwhile, the Menteri Besar said he was informed by the state Health Department regarding the addition of 300 beds at intensive care units and 1,300 beds at Low-Risk COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS).

In addition, he said MAEPS would only treat patients from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, following the decision to set up PKRC in the central region such as in Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang and Johor.

-- BERNAMA