KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is standing behind Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who has been accused of being inept in handling the Covid-19 crisis by Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
Its president Dr Koh Kar Chai said Noor Hisham regularly consults a team of public health experts within the Health Ministry and is also likely engaging with international experts on managing the pandemic.
He said the same can be said of Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is advised by experts before decisions on policies are made.
“The MMA acknowledges the fact that there have been times during the management of the pandemic where our country could have done better and the MMA had indeed called out the government before on the way it managed the pandemic,” said Dr Koh in a statement.
However, he stressed that the association disagrees with Tiong’s views.
Tiong had on Facebook yesterday called for Dr Noor Hisham to be replaced. He questioned Dr Noor Hisham’s credentials in directing the battle against Covid-19 as he is a surgeon and not a public health specialist.
He also questioned if Khairy has an effective strategy to counter the threat.
Dr Koh said that a health director-general does not necessarily have to be a public health expert to be able to formulate policies to manage the pandemic effectively.
He also lauded Khairy’s performance. “I must say that for a non-medical health minister, we think he is performing exceptionally well,” Dr Koh said.
He added that both have been instrumental in bringing the pandemic under control in the country.
“It wasn’t easy as we were initially faced with many challenges in our healthcare system, especially last year when the system was overwhelmed,” he said.
“But thanks to a successful National Vaccination Programme, we are seeing less severe cases of Covid-19 and the number of cases is now manageable.”
Dr Koh noted that some developed countries have struggled with managing the pandemic, including wrestling with issues like low compliance with public health measures and low vaccination rates.
He stressed that Malaysia cannot afford to have another lockdown as it would be too damaging to the economy.
“We agree with the Health Ministry’s approach, which is mitigation,” he said. “The way forward is to learn to live with the virus with full vaccination, boosters and strict SOPs until the threat of Covid-19 no longer exists.” – The Vibes, January 10, 2022
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