I refer to a news where Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba cited that the government will hold a special meeting after Malaysia’s COVID-19 cases has surpassed 400 (428 by the time of writing), making it the highest in the ASEAN region. The meeting will be held on Monday and as a people’s representative, I question why a lack of urgency and priority to address a pandemic that has caught the entire world by surprise.
The Ministry of Health under the previous government had presented guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the first wave of outbreak was under control. We are made to understand that all those infected have since recovered, however, the second wave of outbreak has proven that the apathy exhibited by certain decision makers, organizations and members of public needs to be addressed diligently and with great empathy. Important decision making meetings cannot wait as even a day is regarded too long and as our nation faces this pandemic, without any clear leadership from our ministers, we are faced with a ticking time bomb that may not produce the positive results we need for this country.
Ministers and Deputy Ministers must take a proactive approach and understand the gravity of our current situation as the socio-economic impact will be too great of a burden for Malaysians to bear, especially during these tumultuous, uncertain times.
Director General of Health Malaysia, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and his team have been working hard during this crisis, but our resources are limited. As stated by Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba,“We are now in the late containment stage” therefore, tackling this pandemic is the responsibility of everyone – all ministries must band together and come up with a workable solution because time is a luxury most Malaysians do not have.