Doctors will have a tough call to make when ICU beds run out: Dr Noor

Doctors and nurses attending to a COVID-19 patient. Photo courtesy of Ministry of Health/KKM.

PUTRAJAYA, May 29 – Doctors will have a tough call to make should the number of COVID-19 cases go beyond their capacities to treat as they will have to choose between prioritizing which patient to be given an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed, said Health Director General, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.

They would have to choose between a patient who has high potential to recover compared with a patient with poor prognosis. This is the reality at the moment, he said in a Twitter message Saturday.

Today, Malaysia recorded the highest daily number of deaths at 98 due to the COVID-19 virus. The Director General described it as a black day for the country.

The total number of deaths in the country now due to COVID-19 is 2,650. From this, 471 died in 2020, and another 2,179 died in the first five months of this year.

From May 1 to 29 alone, 1,144 people lost their lives to the virus.