All hands on deck to battle second wave

WITH services at the Health Ministry temporarily unavailable except for emergencies, doctors and nurses have been deployed for other tasks, particularly at the National Isolation Centre (NIC) in Tutong District.

Health Minister Dr Mohd Isham Jaafar said, “Given the workforce available, our ministry only has 600 doctors altogether, which means it is all hands on deck.”

“It is a bit trying, as we now have to do something different for 24 hours, seven days a week. However, together we can achieve this,” he added.

He made these statements in response to the shortages, specifically at vaccination and swabbing centres, where some had to wait for five to six hours.

Following the call yesterday for able-bodied retired health personnel or health workers from the private sector to volunteer their services, Mohd Isham said, “The more people from this sector volunteering, the better, while our ministry makes plans to expand the National Vaccination Programme from the current 5,000 per day to 10,000.”

He said one of the suggestions is also to deploy medical students or nurses.

Mohd Isham said the ministry welcomes participation from the public who wish to lend a helping hand as volunteers, particularly pensioners and private sector employees.

On Thursday, Brunei detected 49 new local Covid-19 transmissions, including three new active clusters and five cases from unknown sources of infection, bringing the national tally of confirmed cases to 543.

The latest clusters have been dubbed the Dragon Boat Cluster, the 499 Cluster and the Champion 7 cluster.

Currently, a total of 218 active cases have been recorded in Brunei Darussalam. Among the cases are two in critical condition, requiring ventilator assistance, while another two cases are under close observation at the NIC.