MOE and Health DG must explain for imperiling people’s lives in Tringkap under EMCO

The EMCO and the subsequent measures in Tringkap imposed by the Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) are utterly illogical and fatally flawed, leading to a worsening pandemic situation in the area. Apart from destroying the farmers’ livelihoods, the lives of local farmers and farmworkers are also imperiled.

Therefore, I urge the Minister of Health Dr. Adham Baba and Health Director-General Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah to be forthcoming about the preposterous and failed anti-pandemic measures that have been implemented in Tringkap, Cameron Highlands.

Since Jalan Ulu Tringkap was blockaded on June 23, farmers are not allowed to go in and out of their farms. Besides, as many as 500 foreign workers, of which 100 are tested positive, are all forced to stay in their respective farm quarters. Essentially, the government’s measure exposed the local residents and foreign workers to the risk of cross infection.

Although the number of confirmed cases in this area exceeded 100, the MKN has remained aloof about this matter and never issued any statements nor taken any actions even since EMCO was imposed. Nor has it taken any emergency measures and conducted mass screenings.

Also, it did not set up a quarantine centre with adequate medical care to place patients in it for quarantine purposes. Such inhuman and brutal measures amount to leaving the people stranded and letting God decide if they should live.

I call upon the Minister of Health Dr. Adham Baba and Health Director-General Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah to answer the following questions:

1. Why hasn’t the government conducted mass screenings for all residents in Tringkap even though 12 days have passed since the pandemic erupted in the village?
2. How can the government force the 100 foreign workers who are found positive to quarantine alongside a few hundred uninfected foreign workers? Why are all of them quarantined in farm quarters which clearly lack basic medical equipment? How is the Ministry going to make sure that the patients are safe? How can the Ministry ensure that cross infection would not occur in this area?
3. Why hasn’t the government identified a suitable place as a quarantine centre even though 12 days have passed since the pandemic erupted? Is the Ministry waiting for the pandemic to keep worsening, to the extent that it is unsalvageable?
4. Does the government understand that the EMCO will only be effective and successful when it is implemented in coordination with mass screenings, large-scale contact tracings, and quarantines?

Once again, I have to remind the Ministry of Health that more than 1,000 local residents and foreign workers in Tringkap are being exposed to the risk of cross infection due to the preposterous and failed anti-pandemic measures. If the Ministry didn’t act now, more lives could be at stake, and it must take full responsibility for the loss of lives!