Shortened Quarantine For Health Workers Won T Endanger Patients Kj

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Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has assured that new measures to curb a shortage of healthcare workers due to Covid-19 infection would not compromise patient safety, even though it would see some workers being required to return to work while still potentially infectious.
This is because several precautions are being taken, such as the requirement to be symptom-free or clear a Covid-19 test, and by wearing protective equipment.
“We find this is sufficient alongside the personal protective equipment normally worn in hospital, which offers good protection not only for doctors but also for patients,” he told a press conference at the Parliament building today.
Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported that the ministry has introduced new guidelines that allow for Covid-19 positive healthcare workers to be required to return to work early if hospital directors or district health officers identify a “human resource crisis”.
The policy affects healthcare workers who are either in Category 1 (asymptomatic) or Category 2 (symptomatic, no pneumonia) in terms of their Covid-19 severity.
The new guidelines came into effect on March 21, about a month after the ministry loosened quarantine rules for Covid-19 close contacts amongst its healthcare workers to tackle work absenteeism caused by the ongoing Omicron wave.
Recall to work
Healthcare workers who are in Category 2 will still need to undergo quarantine as usual if they still have a fever, still test positive on RTK-Ag on Day Five of their infection, or if their symptoms haven’t substantially improved.
However, other Category 2 healthcare workers may be recalled to work beginning on Day 6 of their infection. Category 1 healthcare workers may also be recalled to work beginning on Day 6 but won’t be required to take an RTK-Ag test on Day Five.
They are required to follow the ministry’s return-to-work SOPs for healthcare workers, which imposes strict requirements on infection control and bars them from caring for immunocompromised patients.
The infectious period for Covid-19 starts roughly two days before the onset of symptoms or the first positive test and lasts about 10 days after symptoms begin or when the infection is first detected.
The exact duration varies from one person to another, but vaccinated individuals generally clear the infection sooner than their unvaccinated counterparts.
Khairy said the new guidelines were introduced after many hospital directors have asked for a review of its policy on Covid-infected healthcare workers due to widespread absenteeism.
As of yesterday, he said there are 19,420 healthcare workers absent from work, which is an absenteeism rate of 6.8 percent of the ministry’s entire workforce.
Of these, 94.5 percent are Covid-19 cases and another 5.5 percent are close contacts.
“The absenteeism rate has been consistently above six percent since March 4, so many hospital directors have asked us to review the policy for managing Covid-19 confirmed cases.
“So, the matter has been tabled and agreed during a meeting on (March) 15,” he said. -Mkini

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