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From Muhyiddin Yassin: Thank you for your open letter to me dated January 7, 2021. Allow me to express my appreciation that such an august group of professionals has provided proposals, ideas and opinions related to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia.
As you may know, on December 15 of last year I welcomed five external health experts, all of them signatories to your letter, to share their opinions and advice in a meeting with senior ministers and government officials, with the participation of the Ministries. of Health (MINSA), Finance, Trade and Investments and Bank Negara Malaysia.
Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director General of the Ministry of Health, was able to respond to a number of points raised by the experts and confirm that many of the concerns raised and the proposals made had already been or were in process. to be approached.
Regarding testing approaches, since June 2020, the Ministry of Health has been using RTK-Ag as a screening test in the community. At the time, we were one of the first countries in the world to use RTK-Ag as a screening test. The RTK-Ag test kits were evaluated by the National Public Health Laboratory and the Institute for Medical Research to ensure compliance with required standards, and then approved by the Medical Device Authority for wider use in the community.
According to WHO guidelines, RTK-Ag has been used as a confirmatory result when the prevalence of Covid-19 was observed to be high in certain areas or populations. The RTK-Ag test has been used as a confirmatory test in Sabah since October 5, 2020. In addition, the MOH has established five (5) RTK-Ag test centers in Sabah to increase the capacity of RTK-Ag tests.
As of January 14, 2021, a total of 365,740 RTK-Ag tests had been performed with a positivity rate of 3.75 percent. This action had made it easier for the Ministry of Health to manage the outbreak in Sabah. We were able to identify positive cases early, isolate and treat them, and accelerate contact tracing activities to reduce the spread of the disease to the community.
In view of the Covid-19 outbreak among foreign workers, the Ministry of Health has worked together with Socso to conduct massive tests using the RTK-Ag test. This allows us to detect positive cases early and isolate them, thus slowing the spread of the infection. As of January 13, 146,083 RTK-Ag tests had been performed on foreign workers under the Socso screening program, with a 2.0 percent positivity rate and subsequent isolation.
The laboratory’s capacity has been increased to an average of 60,000 tests per day with the participation of private laboratories under strict control of the Ministry of Health, using both the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and the RTK-Ag tests. The Ministry of Health is also investigating alternative methods of analysis, for example saliva analysis and other new methods available on the market. Laboratories at the Ministry of Health also routinely test to identify new variants of Covid-19 strains in Malaysia, allowing the Ministry of Health to further improve its management strategies.
Recently, the Ministry of Health has announced that all suitable Category 1 and 2 patients who are not high risk can self-isolate and be monitored at home after conducting a risk assessment to ensure that the home environment is conducive and adequate.
Transferring patients to private hospitals will also help reduce pressure on public hospitals and protect health workers who are already heavily burdened. To begin with, the Minister of Finance, the Director General of Health and other senior government officials have held a discussion with the top management of the private hospitals, owned by GLC, to launch the decantation initiative.
Yesterday, the General Director of Health held another conversation with the senior management of other private hospitals via video call and nearly 400 participants attended to begin implementing the initiative. I am touched by the rapid support we have received from private hospitals.
Thank you for setting out in your letter the importance of a whole society approach. In fact, we’ve been chasing it since the start of the pandemic nearly a year ago. I agree that we must continue and, where possible, intensify our efforts to engage with communities, industries, the private sector and other key components of our Malaysian society. Finding ways to improve compliance with current regulations for the good of our people remains a key priority of my administration, as do ongoing efforts to improve prevention.
As you know, with the strategies implemented during the second wave, we were able to flatten the curve and we managed to reduce daily cases of Covid-19 to single digits for almost three months. However, with the increase in the movement of people and low compliance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) beginning with the Sabah state elections, daily cases had increased again, after which a third wave was declared on 20 September 2020.
Since then, cases have continued to increase, forcing the government to take stricter measures, such as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Emergency Proclamation under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution, which came into effect on January 11, 2021 until August 1, 2021 to control the spread of Covid-19. In accordance with the Emergency Proclamation, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has enacted the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 which enables the government to handle the pandemic more effectively.
As we continually consider these issues, I would like to welcome the appointment of representatives from the signatories to your letter to meet with the Minister of Health, my Special Public Health Adviser, and myself, along with relevant senior officials. I would be happy to listen to your advice and ideas so that we can all collectively contribute to reducing the number of infections and the subsequent impact on the lives of the Rakyat.
I agree to form a Covid-19 Health and Scientific Advisory Group that will advise the government on matters related to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, and I urge you to nominate suitable candidates to be members of this advisory group.
Let me also address the final point of your letter and assure you that the primary focus of my administration is to manage the nation’s response to this pandemic and mitigate the dire social and economic consequences. I have asked, and will continue to ask, for a collective effort.
I will continue to put politics aside, focus on working across society to end this pandemic, and guiding the country through the difficult recovery it must follow. I appreciate your desire to support the government in this and look forward to working with your representatives accordingly.
Muhyiddin Yassin is the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
