I am reading the two-volume report of the Parliament Special Select Committee on Health, Science and Innovation which was tabled in Parliament this week, comprising the recommendations of the Parliament Special Select Committee and the transcripts of six meetings of the Select Committee from July 23, 2021 to October 4, 2021.
Among those who appeared before the Select Committee in these six meetings were Khairy Jamaluddin on 14th September, 16 days after he was sworn in as Health Minister; Mohd Shafiq bin Abdullah, Secretary-General of Health Ministry; Noor Hisham bin Abdulah, Health Director-General; Dr. Abu Bakar Suleiman (Chairman of Health and Sciences Covid-19 Advisory Group of Experts EAG) and public and private health experts.
In his presentation to the Select Committee on the 100-day KPI and “The Way Forward” as Health Minister, Khairy referred to the objective of reducing the daily new Covid-19 cases to 500 cases.
As Khairy is over two-thirds of his first 100-Days as the new Health Minister, is the reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia to less than 500 cases by December 7 (Khairy’s First 100 Days as Health Minister) still on target and one of his PKIs?
Under Khairy’s stewardship, Malaysia has passed the peak of the surge of third Covid-19 wave in Malaysia, which is probably the longest in the world lasting more than 14 months since the Sabah state general election last September, but the trajectory of decline in daily new Covid-19 cases is proving to be an agonisingly slow one.
In his 69 days of Health Minister, Malaysia has managed to fall to the lowest point of 4,626 daily new Covid-19 cases on November 1, when Indonesia has been recording 22 consecutive days of triple-digit daily new Covid-19 cases, with 518 new Covid-19 cases yesterday as compared to Malaysia’s 4,922 daily new Covid-19 cases.
When Khairy was sworn in as Health Minister on August 30, Malaysia recorded 295 daily Covid-19 deaths as compared to 568 Covid-19 deaths on that day.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 47 Covid-19 deaths as compared to Indonesia’s 19 Covid-19 deaths.
Both Khairy and Noor Hisham have admitted to the Select Committee that the high Covid-19 deaths including the high Brought-in-Dead (BID) Covid-19 deaths must be addressed, but why is Malaysia performing so poorly on this score as compared to Indonesia?
When will Malaysia be able to reduce the daily Covid-19 deaths to single-digit figures?
Can either Khairy or Noor Hisham explain?
(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, November 6, 2021)
