Yeo Bee Yin: Govt Needs To Take Urgent Action As Johor Hospital ICU Usage Exceeds 90%
The ex-minister says she alerted the relevant authorities earlier this month, but has seen no concerted effort taken.
By Ahmad Hamizan @ Mike Miz — 30 Aug 2021, 04:26 PM
Bakri MP Yeo Bee Yin has raised urgent concerns over the worsening COVID-19 situation in Johor
Taking to her Facebook page, Yeo said that there is a worrying upwards trend in the number of coronavirus-related deaths and hospital intensive care unit (ICU) usage in the state.
In an accompanying graph, it shows that the rolling death numbers have risen continuously since early July, with the current death toll exceeding 45 a day.
"There is a need to look thoroughly into Johor Covid (sic) situation by increasing ICU capacity in locations in Johor that are running out of ICU beds," her posting wrote.
She asserts that ICU bed uptake in Johor has topped 90% of capacity thus far, with 257 beds currently occupied in ICUs state-wide.
Yeo served as the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment & Climate Change from May 2018 to February 2020.
Image via Bernama/New Straits TimesYeo then pleaded for the government to take immediate action, and claims that her previous calls fell on deaf ears
On top of her calls to expand healthcare facilities in the southern state, Yeo also urges the government to "double or even triple up vaccination rate in Johor before it is too late".
She elaborates that she had sounded the alarm to the Ministry of Health, the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), as well as the Johor state government earlier in August, when the situation was not as dire, reported Malaysiakini.
"But so far there's no concerted effort seen. Hopefully the new Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin, will pay more attention to (sic) Johor Covid (sic) situation."
Khairy had previously served as the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation; which overlapped with his responsibilities heading the CITF.
Image via Shafwan Zaidon/Malay MailAs of yesterday, 29 August, Johor is fourth from bottom when ranking states by their proportion of fully vaccinated adults
A total of 1,249,133 individuals have completed their vaccination regimes in Johor, amounting to 46.1% of the adult population.
When considering the total population, Johor sits a mere one place higher, with 33.0% fully vaccinated.
However, Yeo believes that the numbers should not be this low, as Johor is one of the most industrialised states outside of the Klang Valley.
By contrast, the capital region has achieved 90.3% of adults fully vaccinated, accounting for 66.1% of the total population here.
