Annie Freeda Cruez
KUALA LUMPUR: An estimated 80,000 Malaysians may have been infected with influenza A (H1N1).
According to the World Health Organisation, this is based on the number of confirmed cases reported by the Health Ministry since May.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, in revealing the startling figure, said to determine the number of cases in the community, the number of confirmed cases are multiplied by 20.
He acknowledged that health services were straining under the weight of an increasing number of infected patients, with hospitals around the country seeing triple the number of patients compared with before the outbreak. Waiting time at some hospitals is up to four hours.
Liow said doctors and healthcare staff were working around the clock to clear queues.
"People have to wait for hours to be treated. It's really congested."
He said the ministry could not reduce waiting time because of the high number of patients down with influenza-like illnesses.
"What we have done is deploy more staff to outpatient departments and clinics to ease the congestion.
"Doctors are trying their best to clear patients as quickly as possible but the number of people turning up every day is high, between 900 and 1,000."
Liow said WHO had estimated that some 0.1 to 0.4 per cent of the population would die as a result of H1N1.
"However, most deaths will be due to complications of underlying diseases in people with chronic cardiovascular, pulmonary, diabetes, renal disease and immunosuppression," he told the New Sunday Times.
He said 20 per cent of the population could be infected within a year.
"The situation is serious. We have reached a stage where the virus cannot be stopped. It is spreading rapidly and many Malaysians are infected. It is now in the hands of people to stop the spread.
"That people are flocking to hospitals and clinics show that Malaysians are now aware of H1N1 and its symptoms. People now seek treatment quickly."
"We have provided anti-viral drugs to all private hospitals to treat patients with H1N1, those who are in the high-risk category, or had high fever continuously for two to three days."
The ministry has issued clear guidelines to doctors in the public and private sectors as to whom they should prescribe the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, and who should be admitted and isolated and placed in intensive care units.
"Doctors no longer have to do throat swabs to treat people with Tamiflu. If they have the symptoms and fall into the high-risk category, have underlying symptoms and co-morbid conditions, they can be put on the drug immediately.
"We are also acquiring more Tamiflu to cater for another 10 per cent of the population. We will make sure there are sufficient anti-viral drugs to treat 20 per cent of the population. We are also replenishing the stock of seasonal flu vaccines."
The ministry has also drawn up a contingency plan for the second wave of the pandemic.
It is looking into more manpower, staff, ICU beds and drugs besides ensuring more hospitals have the laboratory facilities to test for H1N1.
Liow said the ministry would put in place all the contingency plans as stipulated in the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan and be prepared for a worst-case scenario.