MARCH 11 — The announcement of Covid-19 cases by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia is greatly different during the first wave of disease from January to early February, compared to the second wave beginning with case 26 in late February. Previously the manner and place of infection was clearly explained, as was the relationship between the different cases. This way the public can be confident and reassured that the ministry is on top of the problem, doing its job well in containing the outbreak. Now we are just told the number of new cases, sometimes by the Prime Minister’s office or a totally new health minister unaware of the previous situation. We now do not know how and where the infection occurred, who contacts might be and their relationship to foreign travel or to local cases.
Case 26 rightly points out that being in a cluster is not the same as being the source of the infection. This puts even more responsibility on the ministry to clarify how it thinks the second wave came about. To make matters worse, all subsequent announcements on cases are totally devoid of essentially contact information. As a result, we have pictures of factory staff leaving the premises and piecemeal announcements from religious bodies of infection in their premises. Workers and religious devotees in the country are as entitled to information and protection as the religious authority or company management. Viral social media scaremongering is now proliferating.
It is highly important that as professionals, doctors and ministry staff work without fear of politicians, religious and business heads or VIPs. The support and cooperation of the public is ultimately needed for infection control and social stability. The public will be reassured with clear accurate information, and can easily see when political, religious or business interference is hindering safety.
For the good of country, people and society, can the ministry of health please go back to the way it presented cases in January, telling us where and how the disease in the patient was detected as well as its relationship to other cases or foreign travel? This is a problem that can be overcome when government allows competent transparent professionals to do their work, as China and South Korea have shown.
Dr Ong Hean Teik
Consultant Cardiologist
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
