KUCHING, Oct 9: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan warns that Sarawak might face a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases that may overwhelm the healthcare system if elections are held.
Citing what had happened in India which held elections in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2021, it used to report daily cases as high as more than 379,000.
“This created a surge that overwhelmed the healthcare system in hard-hit cities like New Delhi, where hospitals have been turning patients away. Such a situation can happen in Sarawak if elections are held now,” he said in a statement today.
He viewed that the Covid-19 situation in the State was bad because he had received information from those who went or had been admitted to hospitals here, complaining that the facilities were “inadequate to cater for Covid-19 patients”.
“Even this morning I received text messages from a party supporter who has been admitted to a hospital in Miri that there were a shortage of hospital beds and where oxygen masks are not functioning too. He claimed that he had arguments with doctors and had seen people dying near him.
“There was an acute shortage of equipment in helping Covid-19 patients in the hospital,” he said.
Following that, Voon opines that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government will find it hard to win over the voters with poor control over Covid-19 problems, adding that the handling of the economy, tar sealing roads and cleaning drains in cities will not see GPS be retained by voters.
Voon took note that the GPS government’s term of office had expired but they are allowed to stay beyond their term because of the imposition of the Emergency by the King.
“The Emergency had been imposed to tackle Covid-19 but the GPS government’s strategies had failed to fight Covid-19 even when they are not busy with the elections. When elections come, I doubt they will be focused on the fight against Covid-19.
“If elections are allowed now, it will be impossible to control or to wipe out Covid-19 in Sarawak.
“We have learned from what had happened in Sabah during Sabah’s recent elections and it was disastrous,” he added. — DayakDaily
