Dr Yii shows the printed copies of the first report tabled by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Health, Science and Innovation in the Dewan Rakyat.
KUCHING (Nov 2): The Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Health, Science and Innovation has made the data-based conclusion that the country is not ready to transition fully from the Covid-19 pandemic stage to endemic stage until all the necessary steps have been taken.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii, who is also the chairman of the committee, said the necessary steps would include increasing public health capacity, integrating technology and digitalisation into public health approach, and mainstreaming National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) so as to give as much protection as possible to the people, especially those listed under the high-risk groups.
“This morning (yesterday), the first report from the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Health, Science and Innovation was tabled in Parliament.
“This report summarises the different subject matters that were discussed amongst all relevant stakeholders focusing on Covid-19, including the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Mosti) and external experts in the field including the Health and Sciences Covid-19 Advisory Group of Experts (EAG) lead by Tan Sri Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman,’ he said a statement.
Dr Yii said the committee had put forth recommendations for the government to focus on and invest in before the country was ready to transition fully, safely and sustainably to the endemic stage on a few main principles.
One of the principles, ‘whole of government, whole of nation approach’, is to involve all relevant stakeholders from public and private healthcare sectors, civil societies and other quarters.
“This should not just be an issue under the Ministry of Health, but (it should also be) a focus on ‘health in all policies’ of government.”
On increasing public health capacity, Dr Yii said this should include increasing capacity for ‘Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support’ (FTTIS) approach in dealing with possible surges in cases in view of the loosening of restrictions, as well as the preparations for future pandemics.
“This includes increasing ICU (intensive care unit) capacities in all states to provide good quality care and reduce the death rates, in case of a surge in cases.
“On top of that, a comprehensive ‘National Testing Strategy’ is important in facilitating a safe transition, and providing guidance for testing frequency for all sectors and industries in our country,” he said.
Dr Yii added that in order for the strategy to be implemented effectively, the government must lower the price of Covid-19 RTK self-test kits and incentivise the public to report their test results in MySejahtera to obtain a clearer picture of total tests done, which should provide a more accurate positive rate in the country.
“The integration of technology and improving features in MySejahtera to hasten the process of hotspot identification, contact-tracing, notifications, and quarantine monitoring on principle of ‘speed-scale-equity’ is important.
“This is to identify the problem before it happens, and enable the necessary intervention or control of the situation should there be a possible surge, especially in view of the loosening of restrictions and resumption of inter-state travels,” said the MP.
Dr Yii said a comprehensive strategy for localised control in case of an outbreak was important so that there would be no need to depend on nationwide full lockdown strategy, which had not been effective and sustainable in that it had incurred a high economic cost.
In addition, there must be strategic communications to ensure that all government policies would be properly conveyed towards increasing public confidence and compliance, on top of promoting stronger public social responsibility, which was important in facilitating proper transition to the Covid-19 endemic stage, he said.
“Even with this report, we would continue to scrutinise and monitor the implementation of these recommendations by all ministries and agencies to give utmost priority on protecting the health of our people and the long-term healthcare capacity of our country, especially in view of future pandemics,” said Dr Yii.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3EFxZFR
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