This comes after one of the undocumented migrants, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi, under treatment, attempted to escape this morning despite being handcuffed in his ward at Hospital Sungai Buloh.

Noor Hisham said there were 26 undocumented migrants at the hospital currently exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms.

He said the ministry will transfer all 26 of them to MAEPS, which was supposed to be a low-risk treatment centre as it already had a security system in place.

“This morning, when the nurses were doing their rounds they realised the patient was missing. We alerted the police and immigration officers who managed to locate him.

“Now, he’s back in the ward. We are investigating how he escaped from the ward,” he said at the ministry’s daily press conference here today.

He said undocumented migrants admitted at hospitals for treatment were always accompanied by an immigration officer and handcuffed in their ward, which made the 26-year-old’s escape more puzzling.

He said all undocumented migrants who test positive for Covid-19 will be treated in MAEPS from now, instead of getting admitted to hospitals.

“Hopefully, we can improve the security there but also ensure that we provide them with good treatment. This is our concern before we can use other hospitals or facilities for illegal immigrants,” he said.

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