Dr Zaliha, this simply does not add up at all

 

        It simply does not add up -- Ministry of Health's big budget of RM5.24 billion last year, the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses that had to be destroyed running into millions of Ringgit, ventilators purchased brand new that could hardly be used at all, yet we have no budget to convert contract medical staff into permanent positions.

        Sheer malfeasance is the word to describe the Ministry of Health officials, and perhaps its former ministers, who were involved in the purchase of 136 ventilators purchased by the ministry through Phamaniaga Logistics between 2020 and April 2022. 

        Seeing that this is now a matter of much public interest, it may become necessary for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be set up to carry out a more thorough investigation into the malfeasance, and no stone should be left uncovered; in the worst-case scenario, if this was an abuse of power at procurement, the cases reported by the Attorney-General has to be followed up by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). 

        According to the Auditor-General's (AG) report, 68 percent of these ventilators bought brand new could hardly be used at all.  Yet, I am surprised that no one made a squeak in the past two years when not one, but 93 units of the ventilators, costing RM13 million, were left to rot. 

        Neither of the two Ministers of Health, the secretary-general nor the director-general made this public or look for remedies to recover the monies spent. If not for the Auditor-General's report, we would not have heard all this.

        This has turned our public health system a mockery at a time when the country was going through the pandemic and contract medical personnel were hard pressed when they had to attend to the increasing workload, yet without a permanent position in sight. 

        Recently, ministry's director-general, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah received public flak when the Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim himself revealed that unused Covid-19 vaccines that had gone past the expiry date were destroyed.

        It raised many questions why Selangor, for example, was not given the vaccines. The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah had personally expressed disappointment that Selangor, with a total population of 6.57 million, had only received 615,210 Covid-19 vaccine doses as of Jun 1, 2021, instead of the 2.9 million doses as previously claimed. 

        Although the expiry date of these vaccine doses was later extended, and the news appeared to have died down, a fresh new revelation in the AG's Report of around 1.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine destroyed when they expired in April 2021, has once again put the ministry under the spotlight for the wrong reasons. 

        This has raised eyebrows especially when we have learnt that the Health Ministry’s public health allocation had increased by about RM224.5 million from RM5 billion in 2021 to RM5.2 billion for 2022.

        This is clearly a case of mismanagement of public funds. Where public health is concerned, it affects every one of us, regardless of race, religion or nowadays, even the dressing code. 

        While the dressing code can be solved by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim instructing the Chief Secretary to the Government, Dr Zuki Ali to review the dressing guidelines to prevent another recurrence, the collapse of the public health system will be very costly to the country. 

        The urgency now is for newly minted Minister of Health, Dr Zaliha Mustafa to revamp the ministry to ensure such abuses and wastages are not happening again. 

        If former ministers or civil servants were involved in some acts of malfeasance or corruption, they should face the long arm of the law while the system is being rectified to prevent another recurrence. 

        She has to respond to the public outcry to do the necessary so that the promotion of these ministry officials is frozen immediately, and if any of the former ministers are found to be involved in the procurement, they too have to face the long hand of the law. 

        This was recently raised by Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii during the recent parliamentary session. 

        Along with the high prices of medicine, Pharmaniaga's monopoly of common drugs should also be dismantled. The ministry should allow for generic medicine to be approved for use in Malaysia. 

        It is important that we heed the voices of ordinary citizens to eradicate the extent of corruption in this country. Dr KN Singh, a doctor based in Johor, has highlighted some interesting issues that should be addressed to plug the wastages in the years to come. He mentioned about subsidies being paid to dead farmers. The reforms should include punishment on people involved with such acts of malfeasance.