PETALING JAYA,Feb 5: A day after he was announced by the prime minister as the man to head the country’s largest ever immunisation programme, Khairy Jamaluddin has received another nomination.
A DAP leader wants the science, technology and innovation minister to take over as health minister.
Liew Chin Tong said Malaysia needs a new health minister as the incumbent, Dr Adham Baba, has failed to address the Covid-19 situation.
Liew said it was health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah who was now running the show in Malaysian healthcare.
“The nation was helped by his judgment in the early stages, for which we are grateful, but some of the tenets of his approach, such as his aversion to mass adoption of rapid tests or the insistence of not testing asymptomatic close contacts, have unwittingly contributed to the spike in cases.
“However, Noor Hisham should not be held responsible, as the buck stops at the minister’s desk. If there is a competent minister, the DG would not need to make tough political and policy calls.”
Liew said that while the DG was responsible for operations, policies should be determined by the minister in consultation with the Cabinet and the prime minister.
The DAP political education director said Khairy appears to be “much more” competent than Adham.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the Cabinet had agreed to appoint Khairy as the minister in charge of the Covid-19 immunisation programme.
“I would personally urge the prime minister to appoint Khairy as health minister, as putting him in charge of immunisation without the full backing of the health ministry bureaucracy is setting Khairy up for failure,” said Liew.
