Penang Hospital’s infection control unit chief Dr Chow Ting Soo said the decision to transfer a patient to a health facility out of state would be allowed after evaluating several strict criteria.

She said factors such as available beds at the receiving hospital and adequate support facilities would be considered after determining if the patient was stable enough to be transferred.

Chow said in the case of Selangor, there was a lack of beds for critical and high dependency patients, which would force the facilities there to look to other states to ensure adequate treatment.

She said that in Covid-19 cases, a team of infectious disease physicians would first evaluate patient transfers thoroughly on a case-by-case basis before allowing them to be sent out of state.

“Netizens have said it is not good to transfer cases here (to Penang), but I plead for common sense. We are talking about Covid-19 which can be isolated and cared for.

“Last year, Penang sent cases to Ipoh, which included Covid-19 patients. For us to take on a case or two, it is perfectly acceptable. It is not that it has not happened before.

“Positive patients will be isolated even if they are brought to Penang and handled with strict protocols,” she told FMT.

Earlier, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow denied claims that two busloads of Covid-19 positive patients from Selangor were sent to the Penang Hospital to be treated.

He said state health officials had only brought one critical Covid-19 patient from outside Penang into the state, and the condition of the patient was stable. He did not say which state the patient came from.

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