In a statement today, MMA president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said this was necessary to eliminate confusion and prevent possible flouting of the home quarantine standard operating procedures (SOPs), which can lead to an increase in community transmissions.
“MMA once again urges the health ministry to revert to its earlier policy of testing all close contacts. The health ministry’s current policy is to only test symptomatic close contacts,” he said.
“In its preventive measures, only isolating them will not be sufficient.
“The health status of all close contacts should be established early or there can be risk of infections spreading among family members in the same household and into the community if they breach the quarantine,” he said.
Subramaniam added that screening close contacts would also improve management of patients who display early Covid-19 symptoms.
On Jan 12, health minister Dr Adham Baba said Category 1 and 2 Covid-19 patients (those with no symptoms or mild symptoms) would undergo treatment and quarantine at home and would be monitored by health workers.
He said health ministry staff would assess the size of the house and number of occupants before allowing such patients to undergo treatment at home.
This came after health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that Covid-19 hospitals and low-risk treatment centres were nearly at full capacity following the four-digit surge in daily cases since December.
In a Jan 13 letter to state Health Department directors, Noor Hisham said the health ministry had instructed for all close contacts of positive Covid-19 cases to be quarantined at home and would only test those who exhibited symptoms.
Stressing that more awareness and clarity was needed on the SOPs for home quarantine, Subramaniam said the government could not afford to take this issue lightly as cases were at an all-time high now.
He also called for increased efforts to educate the public on the home quarantine SOPs and the health ministry’s Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) by frequently publishing it on all available media — including outdoor media — especially in densely populated areas in simple Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil to ensure it is understood by all Malaysians.
There are 213 CACs nationwide to conduct assessment of Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment at their respective homes.
The MMA president noted various news reports in which confirmed Covid-19 cases had to wait days for a call from their district health office or had difficulty contacting them.
Although the SOPs for home quarantine can be accessed via the MySejahtera app and via the health ministry’s official website, Subramaniam said the public might not be aware of this or might just feel the need to speak to a representative from the health ministry.
“We should expect that those who have just been diagnosed with Covid-19 might be overcome with anxiety and will try desperately to contact the department in charge for assistance and guidance on the next steps to be taken,” he said.
“It must also be assumed that there will be elderly citizens who would use the phone to call. Therefore, every call should be treated with urgency.
“Many could similarly be in the dark over the SOPs. We fear that not all will be as responsible in taking the home quarantine seriously.
“Hence, we urge the government to urgently address these issues and make the necessary improvements or we could see Covid-19 cases go up in the near future.”
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