Materia Medica Malaysiana

Doc: Shortage of ventilators is relative

The demand for specialised equipment like ventilators is seasonal, and there could always be a shortage at Government hospitals.
Such a situation has been described as "relative".
Ventilators cost up to RM50,000 each and they require trained personnel to man them.
Hence, it is little wonder why they are only available at big hospitals in the country, while the smaller ones do not have any The Malay Mail contacted 11 Government hospitals in the country at random, and found that none of them had any ventilator (See accompanying story).
Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA) president Professor Dr Zulkifli Ismail said Government hospitals have between four and 10 ventilators or incubators, but that depends on the hospitals, too.
"There will always be a demand for ventilators. This is relative," said Dr Zulkifli. The paediatrician said that sourcing for ventilators in other hospitals was not new.
"It's just that those occasions did not make the headlines." Dr Zulkifli was commenting on a front-page story in The Malay Mail on Monday, where a newborn at Putrajaya Hospital had to be sent 180km to Muar Hospital for a ventilator, as it did not have a spare machine.