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KUALA LUMPUR – The Health Ministry must explain the drop in Covid-19 testing last month compared with May, despite mass screening promises, said Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching.
The Johor lawmaker said prior to the full lockdown on June 1, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry will be doing targeted screening in the field using antigen rapid test kits (RTK-Ag).
Malaysia had screened 2,661,888 people in May, but only 2,491,232 in June, she said in a statement.
“The Health Ministry owes us an answer. Not only has the government failed to conduct mass screening, it also does not allow some elected representatives to conduct targeted mass screening.”
Teo alleged that the Batu Pahat Health Office has rejected applications filed by Parit Yaani assemblyman Aminolhuda Hassan (June 9) and Yong Peng assemblyman Chew Peck Choo (July 1) to conduct RTK-Ag testing.
“The ministry should explain why it stopped elected representatives from offering free or subsidised screening for the public. Although the number of screening gradually increases in July, we have already wasted one month.
“The ministry needs to drastically increase its targeted testing and allow all elected reps to organise subsidised screening programmes so we can test at least 1%, approximately 300,000 tests a day, as a contingency to deal with any further outbreak in the future.
“Malaysia recorded 199 deaths yesterday, and the positive rate was as high as 12.51%. This is after 51 days of full lockdown and two weeks of enhanced movement control order in most of the Klang Valley.
“Clearly, our country is not on the right path to win the battle against Covid-19. So, the question is what have we done wrong?” – The Vibes, July 22, 2021
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