Tiong questions Khairy’s strategy to curb Omicron
SIBU: Dudong assemblyman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has asked Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin whether he has the measures to curb Omicron, a Covid-19 variant that has gripped the world in fear.
He further questioned whether the minister was just taking things one step at a time or waiting for the worst to befall.
Tiong, who is also the president of PDP and Bintulu MP, said Omicron cases had surged in the European countries like in France, the United Kingdom and Spain, and in the United States of America as well.
In a press statement, he said the patients there had been filling up hospital beds.
“Is what Khairy is doing through press conferences an attempt to cause panic while having no solution to the problems?” he asked, saying this was not a time to put on a political show.
He said what the country needed now was to step up precautionary measures early to battle the virus and not to wait till we had run out of resources.
What Khairy did now was just calling press conferences to analyse the situation, calling on the people to step up standard operating procedures (SOPs), he claimed.
“What he needs now is to look at the experiences of the health workers to prepare them for a more serious situation and to improve the health facilities.”
He said he had stressed numerous times that the Health Ministry should take proactive measures for the long run and not wait till they had come face to face with the situation to act.
He said a sum totalling RM30 billion had been allocated in the 2021 and 2022 budgets for this, adding this was the largest allocation after that of the Education Ministry.
He claimed the people were asking where the sums had been spent on.
“Have they been used to improve the medical facilities?
“We must solve the problems with effective measures at crucial time and not to waste time and efforts waiting till the crisis has come.”
He said the Omicron variant spreads six times faster than the Delta variant.
“Malaysia already has 245 Omicron cases, of which 233 were imported while 12 are local.”
Moreover, the hospital beds in Selangor had been taken up to 68.9 per cent, he added.
“Does the Health Ministry have a backup plan to prepare for emergency?”
Prior to this, he said patients were isolated at home while waiting for hospital beds. “Will this happen again?” He claimed that Health Minister Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was a (endocrine) surgeon and not a professional in public health.
“Does he, as the health director-general, take strategic measures during the Covid-19 pandemic?
“Clearly, as a surgeon, he does not have the strategies.
“He refused to seek help from China, a country that has the experience in the field.” Tiong claimed the health director-general preferred to grope his way through and led the people into despair.
“We can see that China has a low fatality rate in curbing the viral infection compared to our high rate of fatality.
“Is this fair to the families of the deceased in the country?”
Tiong said he could not understand why Noor Hisham was not replaced, and he should not sit in that position for too long and let more people die.
He said when the first Omicron case was detected on Dec 2, Noor Hisham called on the people not to panic, saying they had tight control.
“After a month, Covid-19 cases in Malaysia shot up to 30,000 daily. The people are shocked and confused.”
In the two years since the onslaught of Covid-19 pandemic, Tiong said he did not see any effective control measures from the Health Ministry, and as time passed the ministry even loosened their grip to look as if they had given up their determination.
“For travellers returning from abroad, they even allowed them to be quarantined at home and not being sent to a quarantine centre.
“It is because of such relaxed attitude that Omicron variant slipped into the country.”
Tiong hoped that as the Chinese New Year approaches, the Health Ministry and the Prime Minister would tighten up their grip.
He said although the people could not afford another lockdown, the government should come up with a more effective SOP to make up for loopholes.
“Only through stringent checks can they protect the country and its people.”