KUCHING, Aug 2: Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s recent statement in justifying the closing of Parliament sadly seems to double down on proper science, said Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.
Dr Yii, in a statement today, said this is contrary to the federal government’s own National Recovery Plan (NRP) parameter for safe opening of the workplace or economy.
According to him, a functioning parliamentary democracy is an essential service, especially during a pandemic as there must be appropriate public scrutiny, law-making and broad discussions to address core issues especially on the Emergency Ordinance, which has far-reaching influence on the economy, health and approach towards Covid-19.
“There isn’t a need to close down the whole Parliament for two weeks just to deal with 0.9 per cent of positive cases in Parliament.
“Many essential service facilities also deal with daily positive cases, but yet after all necessary standard operating procedures (SOPs) are adhered to, their functions are not drastically disrupted. Why can’t this be done in Parliament?,” he questioned.
Dr Yii opined, science and public health must be apolitical, and Parliament should have been the highest example used by the government to confidently assure the public of the government’s NRP plans, especially to open economic sectors and workplaces safely.
“Instead, it has sadly been shown to exemplify “incompetency” and “not-science-based decisions,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Yii noted, a low “CT (cycle threshold) level” which was the main justification used to paint a picture of high infectivity, was never used as a metric for public health decision making, and it is a virology tool rather than a metric use to make decisions on how long a location must be closed.
He argued that even if the CT value is low, as long as the patient is properly isolated, and all other SOPs are properly adhered to, the source of transmission is isolated which cuts the mode of transmission.
He also pointed out that there is no logical explanation why the Parliament cannot continue to function, especially four days after the detected cases.
“The Health DG, including the Ministry of Health (MOH) must come out with an answer, including showing the hard data, regarding the usage of CT value to make public health decisions prior to Aug 1, 2021.
“Other environmental factors used in the DG’s statement can be adjusted, including improving ventilation in the Parliament,” said Dr. Yii. –DayakDaily.
