KUALA LUMPUR – Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has again criticised the Health Ministry (MoH), this time questioning its minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s supposed dismissive response towards China’s pandemic mitigation measures and the validity of Covid-19 ministry data as well as raising doubts about the vaccine procurement process.
The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president asserted in a statement that data published by the MoH was being manipulated by “unseen hands”. He also slammed Khairy and Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah for their supposed ineffective pandemic management that led to the 31,696 Covid-19-related deaths to date.
Tiong also chided Khairy for telling him that Malaysia is unable to mimic Covid-19 containment measures practised in China. The Sarawak lawmaker stated that he merely told the minister to communicate with China to possibly adopt appropriate and effective portions of their mitigation strategies.
The special envoy to China also noted that medical remedies on par with Western medicine have also been produced by the Chinese, further questioning the supposed adoration towards Western solutions and vaccines.
He said that Khairy needs to stop being “arrogant and conceited” over the current policies, then throwing three pointed questions at the Umno minister; first prompting the minister to explain his stance on China’s policies that Tiong called disproportionate.
He also asked if anything is to be gained by Khairy when they seem to favour the Western vaccines over those produced in China.
“People can be vaccinated with vaccines from other countries for free, but why are they required to pay for Chinese vaccines? Is it true that some people are benefiting from the purchase of Western vaccines as rumoured?
“How many vaccine doses have the MoH purchased in total since Khairy took office? How much does it cost in total? What is the purchase price of each vaccine?” he said.
Tiong also questioned Khairy and the MoH’s commitment towards combating Covid-19.
“As the health minister, does Khairy really want to reduce the mortality rate of Covid-19 and control the spread of the pandemic, by not falsely reporting data or manipulating data and vaccine purchases like some kind of czar?” he said.
This is part of an ongoing dispute between Tiong and Khairy, with the former seemingly bent on being critical of the MoH and its pandemic management policies.
In response, Khairy had recently said that Malaysia is unable to implement lockdowns as the country cannot afford it, adding that his ministry looks to impose effective measures that are calibrated and proportionate, instead of extreme.
Khairy also defended Dr Noor Hisham when the latter was criticised by Tiong, who claimed the DG was not qualified for his role in managing the pandemic due to him being a surgeon and not a public health specialist.
The Malaysian Medical Association recently leapt to the defence of Khairy and Dr Noor Hisham, saying the duo have been instrumental in bringing the pandemic under control. – The Vibes, January 12, 2022
