UPSET with COVID-19 showing no signs of abating, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak urged the Government to buck up and find tune its policies to curb the pandemic.
“I am repeating myself again. Is the Government going to allow the infections to rise without doing anything about it or do they have threshold before taking drastic action?
“If you do have a benchmark, can we know what it is?” he asked, in a Facebook post.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded the highest COVID-19 tally to date at 15,902, bringing the cumulative total to 996,393.
Many public healthcare facilities, especially in the Klang Valley, have been overwhelmed with the sheer number of infections.
Subsequently, the Health Ministry (MOH) announced that it was converting Selayang Hospital as a full COVID-19 hospital, the fourth in the Klang Valley so far.
Worried of the recent turn of events, Najib said that the country may see one million COVID-19 infections soon, cumulatively, and how it would affect the public healthcare system and people’s lives.
“With more infections, the death toll may rise up too. Yesterday, we recorded 184 deaths and I hope we don’t hit 10,000 deaths.
“But we have infection cases soaring between 4,000 and 7,000 daily, with over 150,000 people suffering from COVID-19. Do the Government even realise that cases have spiked 2.55 times from the 60,117 recorded on June 25 to 153,633 recorded now?” the Pekan MP queried.
On related matter, former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz proposed that the National Recovery Plan (NRP) must include bold action that would steer Malaysia away from the pandemic crisis and the economic malaise caused by it.
For starters, she urged the Government to implement the living wage policy and prioritise merit when it comes to hiring in the civil service.
“We need to apply global benchmarks in our polices. In addition, we need include diversity in human resources development,” Rafidah stressed.
On the economy, she said the Government must proactively participate I regional and plurilateral pacts to optimise benefits from exports and investment flows.
“Let us also improve the operating environment for businesses so that they can successfully compete in the regional and global markets.
“We must also strengthen capacity and efficiency along the production value chain, especially among our small and medium enterprises,” the former Kuala Kangsar MP remarked. – July 25, 2021,
