Is Khairy following the Indonesian Covid-19 statistics where for ten consecutive days, it has been recording triple-digit numbers of daily new Covid-19 cases and half of Malaysia’s Covid-19 deaths – when will Malaysia reduce the daily new Covid-19 cases to triple digit numbers and have less Covid-19 deaths than Indonesia?

I am glad that after my media statement yesterday asking Khairy Jamaluddin, the Health Minister, to clarify why CovidNow website reported 42 Covid-19 deaths while the Worldometer website reported 222 Covid-19 deaths for October 23, 2021, the Worldometer website corrected its figure to be consistent with CovidNow figures.

I want to ask Khairy whether he is following the Indonesian Covid-19 statistics where for ten consecutive days, it had been reporting triple-digit numbers for daily new Covid-19 cases and ask when will the daily new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia be reduced to triple-digit numbers.

On daily Covid-19 deaths, Malaysia had been exceeding the daily Covid-19 deaths in Indonesia for more than a month. In six of the last 10 days, daily Covid-19 deaths in Indonesia is less than half that of Malaysia. For instance, on- 17th October, Indonesia’s daily Covid-19 deaths were 19 compared to Malaysia’s 63 or only 30 per cent.

Can Khairy give an explanation for such a gross anomaly, most critical of Malaysia’s health system?

Furthermore, Malaysians are still waiting for Khairy’s explanation with regard to the high Covid-19 fatalities in Malaysia and why Malaysia has become the worst performer in ASEAN in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Friday is 2022 Budget Day. Like the rest of the world, Malaysia had been suffering the loss of lives and livelihoods for the past two years.

Malaysia must learn from the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic, where we have lost 28,400 lives with a cumulative total of 2,431,716 Covid-19 cases, and be prepared for the next pandemic which medical experts have warned could come anytime.

The 2022 Budget is the occasion for the country to strengthen frontline services for pandemic responses and supportive health financing policies by reinforcing health system resilience, health security and universal health coverage (UHC).

The 2022 Budget should focus on raising adequate revenues for health systems, organizing those revenues in order to maximize risk-sharing across the entire population, and spending those funds in the best way to improve the health of all citizens of a country.

This is the test for the 2022 Budget.