‘I’m having sleepless nights due to the stress of facing the pandemic’



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COVID-19 | The Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, said he has sleepless nights due to the stress of facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“If we look at the issue of mental and physical fatigue, not only in the field but even in the Ministry of Health itself, we are mentally and physically fatigued.

“This is because we have been continuously fighting non-stop for 10 months, without rest.

“There may be those who are affected by intense pressure, etc. Even the CEO is also facing a lot of pressure.

“Sometimes at night we can’t sleep because we have to think about all kinds of things and how to solve problems. But until now, we can still hold on, ”Noor Hisham said during his daily press conference at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya today.

I was responding to a question about fatigue affecting health officials, especially in Sabah, where Covid-19 cases have increased.

He said he had a video conference with various specialists in Sabah this morning on how to handle whatever issues they are facing.

“I can tell they are still buoyant, but maybe in the way we work, we have to be smarter by taking turns and giving our officers time to rest.

“But even when we are given rest, sometimes we cannot rest. We could wake up in the middle of the night at 3 or 4 am, still thinking about how to solve a problem.

“This is a challenge for all of us, whether from the front line or from the management,” said Noor Hisham.

He reiterated that the fight against Covid-19 cannot be won only by the Ministry of Health or the government alone, but requires the effort of everyone in the country.

He noted that the infectivity rate or R0 (pronounced R-zero) had dropped to 1.1 across the country, from 2.2 when the third wave began. Yesterday, he had said that the R0 value was at 1.2 across the country.

As long as everyone continues to adhere to standard operating procedures, it will likely be another two weeks or so before the curve flattens out, he recalled.


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