KUALA LUMPUR (May 17): The Selangor government will rope in 150 volunteers to assist the operation at the state's Covid Assessment Centres (CACs), especially the Petaling District CAC in Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said in a statement today that the volunteers consisting of civil servants, local authority staff, SELCARE medical personnel and medical students from private universities will among others help to manage the traffic outside the centres.  

A call centre manned by medical volunteers will also be set up to reduce the burden faced by the CAC in carrying out patient evaluations through home assessments.

Amirudin said 48% of visitors at the Stadium Malawati CAC were there to remove their home quarantine bracelets. As such, starting next week, a special counter will be set up at the centre for this purpose.

He said this will lead to smallers crowds at the CAC and help reduce infection risks for those whio have completed their quarantine.

He added that private clinics and medical facilities will be given permission to conduct home surveillance orders (HSOs), including placing quarantine bands on those found to be close contacts of Covid-19 positive patients.

This means that Covid-19 patients do not need to be present at the district CACs, but can also head to private CACs, which will in turn reduce the load placed on the Stadium Malawati CAC.

In Selangor, 65 general practitioners have been given the green light to conduct HSOs. The list of  private CACs will be announced in due course.

The Stadium Malawati CAC has been operating since Feb 8, with a capacity to assess between 1,000 and 1,200 patients daily.

Amirudin, in his statement, also said that the Selangor Health Department will beef up the facilities at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park in Serdang (MAEPS) Covid-19 quarantine and low-risk treatment centre (PKRC), including setting up additional beds and temporary intensive care units.

He added that a new decision has been made for the MAEPS facility to only treat patients from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, following the decision to establish PKRCs in several other states such Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang and Johor.

“The Selangor government will continue to keep an eye on the Covid-19 situation  in Selangor and will take proactive measures under its powers to deal with the spread of this pandemic,” he said.