Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah infectious diseases consultant Dr Anusha Shunmugarajoo said cleaners would often neglect to disinfect risky areas, focusing instead on cleaning the floors in the belief it would reduce the risk of transmission.
“I see them mopping the floor right after the transfer or discharge of patients at the ward. It’s more important to focus on disinfecting high touch areas such as medical equipment, keyboards, desks and chairs,” Anusha told a webinar (online seminar) on Covid-19.
She said it was also important to bear in mind the movement of patients.
“Healthcare workers must limit the movement of patients to essential procedures only, such as from the ward to the radiology department for X-ray, and prepare the best route for movement.”
Anusha said there should be different standard operating procedures (SOP) among healthcare workers, such as limiting the number of doctors doing rounds at wards, minimising the number of staff at the clinic, ward or department to prevent facility contamination, avoiding bringing case notes to patient’s beds, and rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
She also proposed an online triage service for Covid-19 patients.
“I hope we can use a tele triage system for patients before they even come to the hospital. It can help to coordinate the arrival of patients and assigning them to the designated clinics,” she said.
Universiti Malaya Medical Centre head of infection control Dr Sasheela Ponnampalavanar said different types of cases required different types of PPE.
“Not all Covid-19 cases require doctors to wear an N95 mask.
“For Covid-19 patients without aerosol-generating symptoms, there is no need for doctors to wear the N95 mask as the 3-ply surgical mask is enough,” she said.
Sasheela also said it was not necessary to screen everyone for Covid-19, as it did not hasten the efforts to combat the virus.
“I believe testing everyone blindly is giving a false sense of security as the incubation period is 14 days. What makes you think that if a person’s test result came negative that the person will stay negative for the upcoming days?”
She also said the health ministry must revamp the SOP in hospitals for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients as well as resuming non-Covid-19 related services.
“We need to resume non-Covid-19 related services such as emergency cases and oncology and chemotherapy cases in a wise manner,” she said.
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