KUCHING, Jan 25: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has proposed that a joint public-private sector expert inquiry is set up to investigate the Covid-19 response in the country for the past one year to ensure better welfare for the frontliners and the public.
Dr Yii in a press statement today, said he believed that such an inquiry can be held simultaneously while the country is battling the pandemic, with an aim to find out for any issues that need to be addressed and the solution to fix it.
“This includes ways to better improve data transparency, mobilisation of all stakeholders, decentralisation of approach especially to the State government. This will help to increase capacity of testing, speed of contact tracing and also isolation capabilities.
“This inquiry must also look into gaps in protecting and taking care of the welfare of our healthcare workers and what will be the best approach moving forward. We cannot fail them and must do all we can to make sure they are cared for as they care for us,” he said.
On the same note, Dr Yii also suggested to the Ministry of Health (MOH) to release the numbers of health care workers who have died from Covid-19, if any, in order to properly honour their sacrifice during this period.
On top of that, he said, they should look into ways to better integrate a public-private partnership in order to better address not only Covid-19 cases, but to make sure the quality of care of the non-Covid-19 cases are well taken care of.
According to him, it is known that patients who delay or miss their appointments, the management of non-Covid-19 illness such as non-communicable diseases, cancer, immunisation uptake will definitely be compromised.
He explained that a proper and smart triaging of cases will protect the capacity of the country’s Covid-19 hospitals and allow private hospitals to play a bigger role in this private-public partnership in Covid-19 pandemic management.
“All these reports will then be made transparent and used to direct the government approach as we move forward and improve our overall approach towards Covid-19. The best way we can honour all the sacrifices that have been made the past year, is to make sure we do better this year and the best way is to learn from our history, if not, we are doomed to repeat it” he added. — DayakDaily
