| Hot Topic |
SEPTEMBER , 2021 | THE HEALTH
23
Empty buildings can be converted into temporary Covid-19 hospitals . Table 1
involvement could help to scale the success . The current arrangement with the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia ’ s ( APHM ) is expected to continue beyond the Emergency .
Converting empty buildings into Covid-19 hospitals
Firstly , the government should fully subsidise the costs of the private sector .
At the same time , subsidies should be accompanied by enforcement of price controls .
The Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs should work closely with MOH to monitor for excessive charges and intervene by enforcing preexisting caps by use of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering ( Mechanism to Determine Unreasonably High Profit for Goods ) Regulations 2016 made under the Price Control Anti-Profiteering Act ( 2011 ).
Concerning other hospital fees like test charges and drug charges , MOH should also extend application under the Thirteenth Schedule of the Private Facilities and Services ( Private Hospitals and Other Private Healthcare Facilities ) Regulations 2006 of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act ( 1998 ). This is to prevent cost-escalation due to e . g ., “ high demand ”, “ supply constraints ”, “ double workload ”, etc .
Secondly , other arrangements that mimic the provisions of the Emergency Ordinance should also be made .
Empty fields should be the site of makeshift buildings , which should allow for better ventilation . Otherwise , modular / prefabricated buildings based on Industrialised Building Systems ( IBS ) should be heavily considered . Such construction methods can definitively pre-empt concerns of clusters forming at the sites since building materials and building blocks are manufactured off-site and only brought on-site for modular assembling .
Empty buildings should be quickly converted into temporary Covid-19 hospitals , which would also alleviate the burden on the private healthcare sector . These empty buildings , if possible , can then become fully-fledged and permanent hospitals in the future – with the capacity to absorb contract medical officers / doctors on a permanent basis . With this , the government saves on construction costs whilst focussing on upgrading and retrofitting ( for ventilation and air filtration purposes ).
Excess supply of ventilators and oxygen tanks can then be reallocated to these previously unused / under-used sites that now have been transformed into makeshift or temporary Covid-19 hospitals .
Speed and scale of proactive early intervention are keys to managing the current situation – simultaneously balancing containment , economic openness and alleviating the healthcare burden . — The Health
Dr Rais Hussin , Dr Margarita Peredaryenko , Jason Loh & Ameen Kamal are part of the research team of EMIR Research , an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research .
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