EXCLUSIVE: Health Ministry to discuss reopening of MAEPS PKRC

SHAH ALAM - The Health Ministry is considering to reopen the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) Low Risk Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) after the centre officially closed its doors two weeks ago.

According to a source, the ministry will be discussing the matter in a meeting that will be held tomorrow (Thursday).

"If the MAEPS PKRC opens, health officers will be called back for duty there.

"The final decision over the matter will be informed as soon as possible by the Health Ministry’s top management in the meeting,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the source said the ministry's decision to open two PKRCs in Shah Alam will be reviewed.

This means that the opening of the centres scheduled on Feb 15, has been postponed.

The soaring Covid-19 cases brought about by the more contagious Omicron variant have prompted the ministry to initiate several reactive measures to contain and mitigate the spread of the outbreak within the community.

Yesterday, Sinar Daily reported that two PKRCs in Selangor will be activated by utilising public community halls in residential areas.

The two halls located here, were Dewan Burgonia at Laman Glenmarie and Dewan Pudina in Denai Alam.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a brief response to Sinar Daily, yesterday, said utilising public halls as PKRC in residential areas are not a cause of concern provided all standard operating procedures (SOP) are complied with.

This, he said also applies to Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC), hospitals and clinics.

After 14 months of operations, the MAEPS PKRC in Serdang was officially closed, on Feb 8.

It was understood that the last group of Covid-19 patients who received treatment at the centre were allowed to leave on Jan 30.