Weststar introduces negative pressure ambulance based on Maxus V80 for transport of Covid-19 patients

Weststar introduces negative pressure ambulance based on Maxus V80 for transport of Covid-19 patients

Malaysia’s efforts in containing the pandemic has been joined by a fleet of negative pressure ambulances for the safe transport of Covid-19-positive patients – the first in the country, according to the Weststar Group.

These negative pressure ambulances are custom-built vehicles based on the Weststar Maxus V80 platform, offering a two-stage protection setup for frontliners and first responders who are transporting Covid-19 patients. The patients will be placed in a special isolation chamber that is equipped with its own negative pressure filtration system to isolate and prevent cross-infection when they move to and from the ambulance.

Negative pressure ambulances enable the pressure of air inside the vehicle to be kept below the barometric pressure of the outside environment, effectively making the ambulance cabin a sealed compartment because air can only flow into the lower pressure area that is the ambulance, and not flow outwards.

Air inside the ambulance will only be discharged into the atmosphere after it has passed through a bio-safety negative pressure exhaust purification device and then cleaned by a HEPA filter, in order to prevent the transmission of pathogens and other infective agents. There is also a built-in ultraviolet light device to disinfect the vehicle after each instance of usage, said Weststar.

Click to enlarge

Negative pressure ambulances are now in use by government and private hospitals nationwide, including the Selangor health department and the Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre. The latest organisation to procure the negative pressure ambulances is First Ambulance Services, which currently operates 44 ambulances with 140 paramedic personnel and drivers.

Each Weststar Maxus negative pressure ambulance is priced below RM400,000, which is similar to the price of a conventional ambulance but it can offer a degree of safety and protection which conventional ambulances lack, said Weststar Maxus chief operating officer Julius Jonathan.

These ambulances come with a five-year warranty and maintenance package, and the Weststar Group also offers fleet management solutions for the negative pressure ambulances, including lease programmes.

“We firmly believe that the use of the negative pressure ambulance is the way forward to equip our personnel with state-of-the-art equipment and protection, over and above performing all the functions of a conventional ambulance. At below RM400,000 it is similar in pricing to that of a Type B conventional ambulance,” said First Ambulance Services co-founder and MD Steven Penafort.

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Comments

  • Syabas Weststar!

    But, but… this negative pressure ambulance selling at below RM400,000 only. Way, way more cheaper then what the Gomen paid for ambulance. RM300 MILLION for 500 units = RM 600,000 per unit… Gomem must be buy more, pay more. ROFL!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 3
    • Izhar on Jul 15, 2021 at 8:33 am

      The said 500 ambulances including these Weststar one lor. RM400k x 500 only RM200m. So now we know where’s the other RM200k extra for each ambulance goes to. No wonder la don’t want parliament to open. Syabas Menteri Fly for extra RM100m. Read also jack up vaccine price scandal in Brazil as reference also.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 4
    • question of the day …

      which company will get the tender to supply and program manage the offer?

      the program management fee alone easily takes up 30% more of the total bill?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • Crony on Jul 15, 2021 at 12:00 pm

      PH pays RM600,000 per ambulance
      PN pays RM400,000 per ambulance
      Syabas!

      Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 54 Thumb down 0
  • Susukotak on Jul 14, 2021 at 8:33 pm

    No x100. Ask kkm how performance maxus before? The negative pressure thing can make it cost to run sky rocketing.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 2
    • george on Jul 15, 2021 at 9:58 am

      The HEPA filter maintenance cost to be specific. It can reach RM4000 for each interval.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • Sick & Tired on Jul 15, 2021 at 12:25 pm

      So you prefer an ambulance that potentially could be carrying a Covid patient, to be releasing covid into the air along the way? Genius!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • Dengan pandemic covid19 pun masih ada nak berpolitik. Beberapa tindakan selangor menimbulkan banyak tanda tanya, sedangkan mereka ada bekas menteri kesihatan baersama mereka.

    1) kalau dah terima begitu banyak vaksin, kenapa tidak segera di suntikan kepada mereka yg sudah berdaftar.

    2) selangor mempunyai prasarana yg lengkap, kenapa tak gunakan untuk segera melindungi rakyat dengan menambah lebih banyak ppv

    3) pemberian vaksin kepada kilang, kenapa caj sampai 8x ganda

    4) ada negeri lain yg menggunakan klinik2 swasta untuk penyuntikan vaksin. Kenapa selangor tak boleh buat yg sama.

    5) kelihatan penekanan di selangor adalah dalam mengesan pesakit covid19 walaupun vaksin sudah diterima tetapi usaha dan penekanan tidak kepada pemberian vaksin.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 56 Thumb down 6
    • Stop blaming state gov and shift the actual party who is keep failing and flip flopping. The Act 342 under federal purview. MB already told MKN to close all factories in Selangor for the time being. But what’s the answer? The raw data to contain covid not being shared with state gov also. The only state who conduct mass covid testing? The first state which came out with covid app? SELANGKAH. The vaccination rate from 40k per day has reach 65k capacity now. We are all suffering right now. It is us who help each other now as we can see. We have to keep the act together. To the whole nation please, do it rightbfor the sake of our childrennand future generation.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 19
      • Sick & Tired on Jul 15, 2021 at 12:20 pm

        Stop blaming others own up to your failures, Selangor! Who hid the vaccines and lied about not getting them? Whose planning failure to not allocate more PPV areas? Why need SELANGKAH when we found it is a botnet that scalped AZ vaccines from us? How come state gomen has no power to shut operations in their OWN STATE?! What are state authorities for, might as well dissolve the state gomen and let Federal to run things!

        What you point out are the bare minimum effort for a state gomen that is failing badly to vaccinate us Selangorians, not to mention trying to steal our vaccines. And while Federal gomen industry initiated plan only requires companies to pay RM45 to vaccinate per pax, Selangor gomen wants us to pay RM 350 each, nearly 9X more than what Federal is charging. Is Selangor sourced vaccine made out of gold or diamond, or we getting cheated again? Sick & tired of their shenanigan.

        Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 53 Thumb down 1
      • Western Star on Jul 15, 2021 at 12:43 pm

        The country’s most industrialised state, Selangor, is still on the top of the chart of daily Covid-19 cases. Of late, desolating numbers of infectivity hovered around 4/5-digits – much to despondency of not only Selangorians but population in other states, too.

        Why? Because as much as we want Covid-19 cases to ease not only in Selangor but also all parts of this country, we also want to get out of this vicious cycle of negative health and economic impacts which have been haunting us since early last year when the pandemic started to hit our shores as early as possible.

        We just can’t wait to move from Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan which the government has outlined, to Phase 2, eventually Phase 3 and finally Phase 4 where herd immunity is achieved. Can we get back to normalcy and those treasured freedom of pre-pandemic days by year end?

        Other states, Sabah in particular, used to report high number of cases and clusters as well as fatalities due to the virus but see, the numbers are slowly but surely going down. Sabah, from reports, went all out to keep all its areas under control from the virus, and it did within a period of time.

        Surely, Selangor can do something useful, something concrete in order to bring down the rate! When the country recorded the highest number of cases sometime in May, some 2,836 cases came from Selangor. Now daily “champion” continues to be Selangor. Bravo!

        The time has come for state leaders there to stop from endlessly putting the blame on the federal government, identifying pitfalls and move from there to tackle this problem.

        From the early days the pandemic struck, the federal government has been accused of being incompetent and weak. All sorts of unfair and disingenuous claims, including the latest one by a state executive council member who claimed several state vaccination centres (PPV) in Selangor would be forced to stop operations in days unless its supply of vaccines were urgently replenished.

        The exco member’s claim of vaccine supply running low in the state is said to be baseless with a reply from one Dr Mohd Ghows Mohd Azzam who said Selangor had about 339,000 doses which is enough for at least a week. This Dr Ghows also said the exco member could have easily contacted the Selangor Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force regarding the matter instead of putting it on social media.

        Stop this blame game, please, Selangor. Pointing finger, finding faults with others won’t get us anywhere. Reciprocate with whatever plans and actions outlined by the federal government.

        We have no time to waste but until the end of this year to work out all plans and strategies, and to make each and every one of them happen. We will not be safe until everyone is safe.

        Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 53 Thumb down 0
    • mat redho on Jul 15, 2021 at 10:02 am

      Selangor vaccination daily rate for each 7 days a week at 65,000 vs 40,000 last two months.
      Melaka rate, Sunday PPV close at 30 doses per day. Wow!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
      • Dr Strange on Jul 15, 2021 at 12:06 pm

        At yesterday count;
        Selangor infection rate at 5,051 (total 300k)
        Melaka infection rate at 565 (total 23k)

        Selangor infections rates are outrunning vaccination and this proves the failure of Selangor to manage.

        Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 52 Thumb down 1
      • Shah Zan on Jul 16, 2021 at 7:01 am

        PPV is MOSTI’s who decided. The vaccine allocation yet from PICK under MOSTI also. Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri also under MOH and budget the paymaster is the federal government.
        What is under state government are Pejabat Daerah (DO), town board and city council (PBT) and yes Pejabat Agama. All 3 entities salary being paid by state government.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • george on Jul 15, 2021 at 10:07 am

      Some Selangorian get their jab at WPKL, especially the cucukmyAZ. The vaccination percentage at KL is at 103% as per yesterday. According to WP Minister they already KPI overachievement for him.Where did that extra 3% came from.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
      • Rakyat Malaysia on Jul 15, 2021 at 10:09 pm

        Kesian Selangorians have to get vaccine from other states and not from their own. Why is their state so cruel and not giving them vaccines? Selangorians voted them in and this is how they got treated in return. To the whole Selangor please, do it rightbfor the sake of your childrennand future generation.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Ajib tai kor on Jul 15, 2021 at 9:36 am

    Gomen must reject any Maxus ambulance above RM300,000.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 5
  • Dr Strange on Jul 15, 2021 at 12:09 pm

    If you can find negative pressure ambulance below RM 300k, by all means go ahead and propose otherwise STFU

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • Bullshit.. Last time government said just trust WHO on there is no evidence that covid can be spread airborne. Now, even the ambulance got airflow control to prevent infection of the driver. I already know covid is airborne from the beginning thats why i never trust WHO and you shouldn’t too, unless you like to be following the most ‘genuine, research proven’ info by WHO simply because they are the ‘official’

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Dr Strange on Jul 18, 2021 at 10:52 am

      If dun trust WHO then trust who? YOU? Show me your medical degrees & certs first.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
 

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