Recognition of Dr. Noor Hisham by CGTN as one of the world’s top three doctors in public health in Covid-19 pandemic is a most deserved commendation as he is the saviour of Malaysians in the second wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak
The recognition of Health Director-General Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah by China Global TV Network (CGTN) as one of the world’s top three doctors in public health in the Covid-19 pandemic is a most deserved commendation, as he is the saviour of Malaysians in the second wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
If the Malaysian authorities had been responsible and vigilant, Malaysia would have been spared the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.
In the first wave of the outbreak, we have kept the incidence low at 22 Covid-19 confirmed cases without any fatality, but the second wave reaches new heights with today’s score of 5,182 Covid-19 confirmed cases, 2,766 recoveries and 84 deaths.
Without the imposition of the movement control order (MCO) and the leadership of Dr. Noor Hisham in the invisible war against Covid-19, the final scores in the second wave for both the total confirmed cases and deaths would have been very much worse.
When the MCO was imposed on 18th March, 17 countries had more Covid-19 confirmed cases but today, Malaysia has less Covid-19 confirmed than 35 countries.
What is most shocking, the United States which leads the world in having the most number of Covid-19 confirmed cases, have over 650,000 cases, more than three times that of the next worst-affected country, Spain, which has 180,000 cases.
The Covid-19 death toll in the United States is over 30,000 cases or over 360 times Malaysia’s death toll of 84.
When the MCO was first imposed in Malaysia, United States had about 13,000 cases and about 100 deaths.
In honour of Noor Hisham’s recognition by CGTN, the government should ensure the resolution of the concern expressed by him about personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontliners running out of supply as their use had risen by two to 10 times in Malaysia.
In New York last night, nurses held a vigil to mark the deaths of their colleagues since the city became one of the biggest coronavirus hotspots in the global pandemic and to warn that they are still working without vital protective equipment.
More than 10,000 people have died in New York from the coronavirus, among them an untold number of doctors, nurses and medical support staff. With jobs that bring them into close daily contact with the virus, and a continuing shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), the risk for healthcare workers other patients they treat is especially high.
Let us learn from the lessons of the global pandemic and give priority to ensure that the frontliners in Malaysia have adequate supplies of PPE when they put their lives at risk in the frontlines of the invisible war against the novel coronavirus.