KUALA LUMPUR – Pakatan Harapan (PH) has upped the pressure on newly minted Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in leading the battle against Covid-19 following the prime minister’s directive to the cabinet to produce tangible results within 100 days.
The opposition coalition has called on Khairy, who is also Umno’s Rembau MP, to reduce occupancy of hospital beds to less than 70%, and usage of intensive care units to below 50% within the said period.
This is part of 10 key performance indices (KPIs) the PH health committee has given Khairy to achieve within the time frame, in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s call to each ministry to prove their efficacy.
In a statement, the committee said these KPIs will set the benchmark of the country’s Covid-19 approach to not only provide high vaccine coverage, but control the spread of the virus and flush out any hidden clusters within the community.
Only by achieving these – with public health fundamentals adhered to and healthcare capacity strengthened – can the government effectively introduce a more long-term endemic-type strategy, it said.
Khairy was sworn in with the rest of the cabinet on August 30.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had stressed to all cabinet members that their ministries must prove their achievements in the first 100 days of the new government.
He had also said that swift and coordinated actions are vital to liberate Malaysia from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the economic and political turmoil the people have been enduring.
Other than reducing bed occupancy, the PH health committee wants the Health Ministry to reduce the Covid-19 fatality rate from around 0.94% to 0.5% of those infected, as well as bring down the number of people brought in dead from the current rate of 22% of daily fatalities to less than 10%.
On the incidence rate per 100,000 population, the committee wants it reduced to below 55 cases.
It also wants the ministry to invest to strengthen the implementation of its “Find-Test-Trace-Isolate-Support” strategy.
Beyond that, the committee urged the government to achieve 80% full vaccination coverage nationwide and plan for booster doses for high-risk individuals within the 100 days.
It also demanded better transparency and open-sourcing for Covid-19 granular data, and better collaborations with state governments and other stakeholders on the management of the pandemic.
The statement was signed by, among others, by former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (Amanah’s Kuala Selangor MP), his then deputy Lee Boon Chye (PKR, Gopeng MP), Ong Kian Ming (DAP, Bangi MP) and Datuk Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli (Amanah, Lumut MP).
The committee expressed hope that Khairy’s appointment will be a catalyst for a “reset” in the country’s approach towards battling the pandemic by taking a whole of nation approach.
“This ‘reset’ in approach must be evidence-based, including a focus on the fundamentals of infectious disease control guided by the ground realities, lived experiences and the expertise of all Malaysians.” – The Vibes, September 4, 2021
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