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KOTA KINABALU: There is no need for Sabah to have its own state Ministry of Health, as there would be an overlap with the functions that are performed at the federal level, says SAPP President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.
He was responding to criticism from Sabah DAP leaders after the portfolio was removed from the new Cabinet lineup.
According to Yong, the wallet was “superfluous.”
Health and Welfare of the People were among the three state ministries formed by the Warisan Plus administration after it won the 2018 elections.
On Covid-19, Yong said that the recent appointment of Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun as the official spokesperson of the state government on the pandemic is sufficient and appropriate, as Masidi is the state minister of Housing and Local Government.
“Furthermore, a Covid-19 disaster management committee was established as of October 1. This committee is chaired by the Sabah secretary of state and already encompasses the Federal Department of Medical Services and other public health agencies,” he said Yong in a statement on Monday (October 12).
“The call for a Sabah health minister is unnecessary and just a duplication of functions,” he added.
Yong also said that a state health minister would have no clinic, hospital, doctor or medical personnel under his ministry.
He claimed this was the reason why former Sabah People’s Health and Welfare Minister Datuk Frankie Poon “disappeared in action” during the first wave of the virus when it struck in March.
The head of Sabah DAP had said that Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s government should immediately appoint a health minister due to Sabah’s enormous size, adding that health matters should not fall solely on the shoulders of the state health director.
Meanwhile, Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament and Sabah DAP Secretary Chan Foong Hin called on the federal government on Sunday (October 11) to bring in more medical personnel from other Malaysian states.
He said these staff should be sent to the district hospitals in Sabah that need them most.
“The health system in Sabah must not be allowed to stall or collapse even if the chief minister, Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor, has been protected after testing positive for Covid-19,” Chan said Sunday.
“While I wish him a speedy recovery, I would like to urge Hajiji to immediately assign his official duties to one of his deputy prime ministers during his hospital stay,” he added.
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