Make test kits available for masses, says Klang MP

PETALING JAYA: The government has been urged to make Covid-19 test kits available to the masses without delay to quickly stem the spread of the virus.

Klang MP Charles Santiago said it was crucial that Malaysians were tested early to put a stop to the transmission of the virus.

“South Korea has conducted rapid tests for thousands of those suspected of having Covid19, even those who are asymptomatic,” he said.

On the other hand, he said, many countries had missed the opportunity to conduct similar tests by a month.

“Things could have been different in Malaysia (if we had screened the masses quickly),” he said in a statement yesterday.

He was referring to the cluster infections stemming from a tabligh event at a Sri Petaling mosque earlier this month.

Since then, many of those who were at the event have travelled to other countries.

Santiago said more aggressive tests should be done immediately, including for those in the marginalised communities as this was crucial in the fight to stop the virus from spreading.

He pointed out that social distancing – one of the ways to reduce the risk of contraction – could be impossible for those in the B40 group and the lower segment of the M40 group because they lived in overcrowded conditions.

He also urged the government to regulate the price of test kits to make them affordable for all.

Santiago criticised hospitals for turning away patients who were unsure of their contact history. “It’s not the right thing to do,” he said.

“The Health Ministry must explain how it plans to handle a large number of cases given that the health resources are already thinly spread,” he added.