BAGAN SERAI – Health Ministry’s personnel who have been deployed to Sabah to deal with the spread of Covid-19, especially the medical assistants and nurses are experienced and capable, according to Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.
He says a report claiming they were inexperienced was inaccurate and that the ministry had made the necessary screenings before sending them.
“It was a nationwide selection and before they were sent, we have checked their qualifications, areas of expertise and specialisation.
“We held interviews to ensure that only the right persons are selected and deployed,” he said when commenting on a news portal report which quoted a Sabah medical doctor who said that though several nurses from the peninsula had been sent to Sabah, the number did not resolved the manpower shortage.
Dr Noor Azmi, who is also Bagan Serai MP, was speaking to reporters after handing over food basket aid to residents of Semanggol state constituency today.
In the report, the doctor who wanted to remain anonymous, claimed that the healthcare workers arriving in Sabah had to undergo quarantine for one or two weeks, and once the quarantine was over most of them could not start work immediately as they were ‘juniors’ and inexperienced and had to be taught.
In the meantime, Dr Noor Azmi said the ministry would not open quarantine centres in areas of districts that have low numbers of Covid-19 positive cases due to several factors, among them, the high operating cost.
“Several medical personnel will be needed even if there are very few patients should we decide to open a quarantine centre. Nevertheless, we will look into this but for now there are no plans to do so,” he added. - Bernama, October 31, 2020
