PUTRAJAYA, June 14 — The number of COVID-19 patients in categories 4 and 5 is showing an increasing trend when 30,287 cases were recorded in May compared to 6,751 cases in April, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said.
He said the number was expected to increase further this month after a total of 22,857 cases were recorded in the two categories as of yesterday.
According to the Health Ministry (MOH), patients in category 4 require supplemental oxygen while patients in category 5 are critically ill and needs to be on ventilator support.
Following the situation, Dr Adham said the usage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds for treating COVID-19 patients has reached 97 per cent.
He said this at a news conference on the development of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme with Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin here, today.
According to Dr Adham, there were a total of 1,767 ICU beds nationwide including at government and military hospitals with 1,161 patients undergoing treatments, 452 of which are on ventilator support.
In another development, Dr Adham said that private clinics and medical centres were required to provide detailed billings for screening services at their premises if the cost was higher than the ceiling prices set by the MOH.
The government has set the ceiling price at RM150 for RT-PCR test, rapid molecular test (RM270), RTK Antigen test (RM60) and rapid antibody test (RM50) in the peninsula.
In Sabah and Sarawak, the ceiling prices are RM200 (RT-PCR test), RM350 (rapid molecular test), RM80 (RTK Antigen test) and RM70 (rapid antibody test).
Dr Adham said the public could lodge complaints to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) or Private Medical Practice Control Section (CKAPS) if private clinics or medical centres charged unreasonable fees for the COVID-19 screening.
