KUALA LUMPUR – Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today defended his ministry’s move to reactivate a special Covid-19 account, despite criticism that the ministry received a sizeable allocation this year.
The Health Ministry received RM30.6 billion under Budget 2020 but Dr Noor Hisham said the amount was solely for operations and development use, not for the Covid-19 crisis or emergency procurement.
“The RM30.6 billion is for the running of normal activities. The government added RM1 billion for us for the crisis and procurement for equipment,” he told The Vibes.
He said the reactivation of the fund came on the back of requests to donate and help during the pandemic, adding that he preferred donations in the form of equipment.
“I do not want to accept any money or cheques. In fact, if they want to donate equipment directly, that would be better.”
Health secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Chen Chaw Min said last Friday that after the fund reactivation, the Finance Ministry has approved a tax deduction for cash contributions and donations deposited into the account, in accordance with Subsection 44 (6) of the Income Tax Act 1967.
He said the Health Ministry has never appointed any party or individual to act as agents in collecting cash contributions.
“The reactivation of the special account was made following requests from various parties who want to make cash contributions to the ministry due to the increase in Covid-19 cases since the end of last month.
“Cash donations can be channelled through RHB Bank (account number: 2-66016-0002347-5) under the name of ‘Sumbangan Perubatan KKM’,” Chen said in a statement. – Te Vibes, October 19, 2020
