M'sian doctors and nurses wrap themselves in plastic bags and cling wraps due to shortage of PPE

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia continues to rise, more medical personnel are required to be stationed in the frontlines to protect the people. It is mandatory for the medical personnel in the frontlines to be equipped with the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

However, due to a shortage of proper PPE, medical personnel like doctors and nurses at Malaysian hospitals are seen utilising regular bin liners and cling wraps to replace the actual gear. Such DIY-ed gear is obviously incapable of properly protecting them and still presents a risk that they could be infected with COVID-19.

Videos and photos were being circulated on social media, showing these people in service risking their lives while hoping the plastic bags might at least help protect them from being sprayed or splashed on.

A proper set of PPE includes surgical caps, face shields, gloves, gowns, boot covers and N95 masks. There is currently a shortage of these in Malaysia, as reported on Malay Mail. Doctors and nurses have told the press that they were left with no choice but to resort to DIY gear because their hospitals have run out of supplies, but the patients kept coming in.

They explained to the press that they are required to wear the PPE when they carry out a test on patients for COVID-19. Each set of PPE has to be disposed of after that and the medical personnel would have to suit up in a new set.

"Each time we treat a patient or even carry out a test for COVID-19, we have to suit up, which in itself takes 30 minutes or more. We then dispose of the suits after that. We go through four or five suits each day. It is very tiring."

A doctor from East Malaysia admitted that the self-made PPE with plastic bags does not offer much protection but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"The most important thing is that it does not offer much protection, but we have no choice."

Datuk Dr Musa Mohd Nordin and Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail, both paediatricians at Malaysian private hospitals, revealed that larger hospitals like Sungai Buloh Hospital may have a sufficient supply of PPE, but the same cannot be said of the many other hospitals, including private ones. Both doctors had also urged the National Safety Council to handle the PPE shortage immediately.

The current situation in the hospitals is expected to worsen as more people visit the hospital to get themselves tested for COVID-19. According to Malay Mail, a hospital manager also revealed that besides the shortage of PPE, Malaysia also does not have enough ventilators and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds to treat COVID-19 patients.