IN congratulating Khairy Jamaluddin for his appointment as the country’s new Health Minister, Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy has urged the minister to support two crucial points.
Khairy must commit to strengthening COVID-19 public health measures into 2022 including surveillance and vaccination, said the Centre in a statement on Friday (Aug 27).
“This is to minimise local transmission of cases [and] deaths due to the disease, providing the healthcare workforce with necessary support and funding and ensuring that infectious disease prevention and control continues to be a priority for health security beyond this current pandemic,” its CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib said.
Azrul further called on Khairy to immediately review and address concerns related to non-COVID-19 related diseases services such as cancer which have been severely disrupted during this public health emergency.
“This has caused missed opportunities to treat diseases earlier, the condition of patients to deteriorate, and the threat of premature death,” he pointed out.
Describing Khairy’s appointment, alongside the return of Datuk Dr Noor Azmi bin Ghazali and Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang as Deputy Health Ministers as coming at a particularly crucial time for Malaysia, Azrul called this a “make-or-break moment”.
He further remarked that due to the ongoing and increasing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is going to take courage, firm and decisive leadership and sustained commitment to maintain existing efforts to deal with both COVID-19 and non-COVID issues affecting the health and wellbeing of Malaysians.
“We look forward to Khairy to bring the same focus and determination to succeed that he brought to the COVID-19 vaccination effort, to address some of the complex and myriad issues which confront Malaysian healthcare,” he added.
Meanwhile, Azrul also brought to attention the gaps in the health service delivery and infrastructure in East Malaysia, which have been starkly revealed during the past 18 months.
“Sabah, in particular, needs urgent attention to its health needs, especially with the deteriorating COVID-19 situation. That state is now at code blue and needs the Minister’s immediate attention,” he emphasised.
Khairy has been recently appointed the new Health Minister under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s federal administration.
He takes over from Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba who was given Khairy’s previous Science, Technology and Innovation portfolio.
Taking to Twitter following his appointment, Khairy said, “Thank you, PM Ismail Sabri, for the trust.”
“God willing, I will bear this rather heavy burden for the sake of our ‘Malaysian Family,” Khairy tweeted on Friday (Aug 27), referring to Ismail Sabri’s ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ slogan. – Aug 27, 2021.
