VETERAN lawmaker Lim Kit Siang has applauded the nation for achieving a “breakthrough” in the COVID-19 pandemic as the country recorded triple-digit daily cases and single-digit COVID-19 deaths for six consecutive days.
He said this brings Malaysia back to more than two years ago before the country started logging five-digit daily COVID-19 caseloads and triple-digit daily COVID-19 deaths during the “backdoor premiership” of former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
In his criticism of Muhyiddin, Lim said he could not understand the Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman’s claims during the 15th general election (GE15) that under his premiership, the COVID-19 pandemic in the country was “on the verge of becoming endemic” and that lives were saved where “only a few died” as a result of the virus.
What is shocking isn’t just that Muhyiddin had lied about the COVID-19 pandemic but that huge numbers of Malaysians had believed Muhyiddin, making it sounds as if 9,000 deaths is a small number, he added.
“The breakthrough in the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia is the occasion for new Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to carry out a wide-ranging inquiry as to why Malaysia had been such a poor performer in the pandemic so that the nation can better prepare for future pandemics,” the former Iskandar Puteri MP said.
Lim further noted that the wide-ranging study on the country’s health situation should also probe the shocking revelation by Universiti Malaya medical faculty former dean Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman that at least 30 of the top medical graduates from the university leave for Singapore due to unresolved healthcare worker issues at home.
“The Government should draw up a programme to attract the best medical and other talents from other countries to Malaysia, not the other way round,” he commented. — Dec 23, 2022
