ALL of Klang Valley is an intensive care unit (ICU) according to Charles Santiago, as daily Covid-19 cases continue to mount in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

The Klang member of parliament said there was a shortage of health facilities and equipment to help those infected by the coronavirus and no guarantee anyone entering the ICUs would come out alive.

“Today, the entire Klang Valley should be considered as an ICU, why? We have a shortage of oxygen, medical equipment and beds,”

“We cannot allow the government to kill more Malaysians another day”, said the Klang MP who has been grappling with poor facilities at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) over the last two weeks.

Yesterday Malaysia reported 15,902 fresh infections, taking the national caseload to 996,393.

Selangor and Kuala Lumpur continue to lead the daily number of new cases with 7,351 and 2,406 respectively.

Santiago said that he had requested for RM20 million from the government to cover the emergency needs at HTAR.

However, only RM1.1 million had been given by the government, which Santiago said is sufficient only to purchase three ventilators.

“We are in a state of emergency, how is this enough to buy oxygen, ventilators, bed and other kinds of support?

“I know cases of people sitting outside the emergency department for three days in a row without a bed to sleep or to sit, nor having oxygen to breathe well. This is not (merely for) one hour or two hours but three days!

“What does this tell you? That the government and the system have failed to protect Malaysians,” Santiago said.

He described the ICU as a place where there’s no guarantee a Covid-19 patient will come out of alive.

Santiago noted that more people were affected by the pandemic personally now than when it started last year.

He noted that he had also lost a friend yesterday but did not want to blame the front liners.

“And two days before, a Covid-19 victim was looking for help for two and a half days before she, unfortunately, passed away.

“I am not going to blame the front liners, because they did their best and are doing their very best.

“They have worked for 10 to 12 hours every day or even 14 hours straight. But where is the government?” he said.

Santiago was with six other Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament and two civil activists at the Pantai police station today.

They had filed a police report on the health minister and other ministers for negligence in handling the Covid-19 crisis in the nation. – July 25, 2021.