He assured that the situation in government hospitals in Kedah, especially at the Sungai Petani Hospital, was under control.
Saying the hospitals were not in “dire straits” as reported, the menteri besar blamed it on videos showing Covid-19 situations in foreign lands being passed off as cases in Kedah, especially Sungai Petani.
“There are a lot of cases here but it is under control. I depend on the assessment given by the state health department and they have yet to report any serious level of problem. If it is so, we could request for a field hospital to be set up.
“This notion of hospitals being in distress is being pushed by people who like to spread videos from overseas, claiming it took place in Alor Setar and Sungai Petani,” he said at a press conference via Zoom today.
Recently, FMT reported that Hospital Sultan Abdul Halim in Sungai Petani was in urgent need of staff, new wards and corpse handlers, due to the exponential increase in cases in the Kuala Muda district.
The hospital received a donation of foldable beds from a Buddhist association after patients were forced to sit under trees in the hospital compound.
The Kuala Muda district, of which Sungai Petani is the administrative centre, has recorded the state’s highest numbers in the past two weeks at 5,168. It has been a red zone since March last year. Neighbouring Kulim is also moving up with 3,371 cases in the same two-week period.
Separately, Sanusi urged all undocumented migrants in Kg Bukit Malut, Langkawi, to step up to be vaccinated, following claims that they were afraid to come out for fear of being prosecuted.
He said he had received a call from Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir Mohamad who said there were claims that the Kedah government was trying to block vaccination of the settlers in the Bukit Malut area.
Sanusi told Dr Mahathir that there was no such thing, adding that a mobile vaccination effort was ongoing there and nearby Pulau Tuba. Sanusi said overall, Langkawi had recorded 88,137 vaccinations to date. A total of 61,518 were first dose recipients.
Kg Bukit Malut, reported to have many people of Rohingya descent, has been under EMCO since July 27 due to an increase in Covid-19 cases. Eighty-three people tested positive there as of yesterday, the health department reported.
Sanusi said an initial survey showed there were at least 10,000 people living close to each other in the settlement. He said three people had died there due to Covid-19.
“I would like to assure them that they can come out to get vaccinated and need not fear any prosecution. The vaccines are free,” he said.
Sanusi said the total number of vaccines coming into Kedah had increased three-fold to 226,000 doses per week now, compared with 88,000 per week earlier. He said more vaccination centres were being opened throughout the state.
Meanwhile, Sanusi said the political issues at the federal level had not affected the Perikatan Nasional state government he leads. He said he had also conveyed the same to the Kedah sultan. The Kedah state assembly comprises mostly Bersatu and PAS representatives, with only two members from Umno.
On the issue of the Kulim airport coming under heavy criticism by Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy, Sanusi said Ramasamy should “mind his own business”. The airport construction has been deemed by Ramasamy to be undermining the Penang International Airport.