THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has slammed Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing for casting doubt over the Health Ministry’s credentials in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tiong had recently gone on the offensive on the issue of the country’s handling on the pandemic, questioning if Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar really has a clear strategy while calling for Health director-general (DG) Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to be replaced.
“A Health DG does not necessarily have to be a public health expert to be able to formulate policies to manage the pandemic effectively,” said association president Dr Koh Kar Chai.
“We believe Dr Noor Hisham regularly consults a team of public health experts within his ministry and would also likely be engaging with international experts on managing the pandemic, given his role as the country’s Health director-general.”
The same can be said about the Health Minister who is advised by experts before decisions on policies are made, Dr Koh added.
“I must say that for a non-medical Health Minister, Khairy is performing exceptionally well.
“In fact, both Khairy and Dr Noor Hisham have been instrumental in bringing the pandemic under control in the country.
“It wasn’t easy as we were initially faced with many challenges in our healthcare system especially last year when the system was overwhelmed but thanks to a successful national vaccination programme we are seeing less severe cases of COVID-19 with the number of cases now becoming manageable.”
According to Dr Koh, it should be noted that even some developed countries have struggled with managing the pandemic.
Some of these countries are still struggling with issues such as low compliance to public health measures and low vaccination rates.
“The situation in China is very different. They may be able to afford lockdowns but we simply can’t – not anymore as it will be too damaging to our economy.
“[Therefore] we agree with the Health Ministry’s approach which is mitigation. The way forward is to learn to live with the virus with full vaccination, boosters and strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) until the threat of COVID-19 no longer exists.” – Jan 11, 2022
Photo credit: FMT
