Malaysian Health Coalition on COVID-19: We do not want Malaysians to undergo the recent Italian experience

KUALA LUMPUR (March 16): A group of local medical experts representing seven professional societies has urged Putrajaya to implement “quick and firm measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and avoid an uncontainable surge in cases”, reported The Malay Mail today.

Calling themselves the Malaysian Health Coalition, it said in a statement that: “If the total number of cases are high and they happen all at once, Malaysia’s hospitals will be overwhelmed.

Those who signed on the statement include the Master of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia Prof Dr Rosmawati Mohamad, president of the College of Anaesthesiologists Datuk Dr Jahizah Hassan, president of the Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists Prof Dr Marzida Mansor, and president of Malaysian Society of Intensive Care Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Mat Nor, reported the news portal.

“We do not want Malaysians to undergo the recent Italian experience, where a sudden surge in new cases caused chaos and agonising life-and-death decisions in an overwhelmed health system.”  

The coalition “outlined” three suggestions for the authorities to carry out.

First federal government must “act decisively to ban mass gatherings” and that such an effort “should be uniformly implemented across all private, government, civil and religious sectors and industries”.

The coalition also explained that “this is not a lockdown, which is too extreme and unnecessary. Essential services should continue, and citizens should have basic freedom of movement”.

Second, the government must educate the public on social distancing, which the coalition described as “among the best intervention methods to reduce a viral spread”.

“If we implement social distancing now, we can reduce the total number of cases and distribute them over a longer period of time.

“This will protect against suffering and allow us to save more Malaysians by allocating our resources more effectively and fairly,” wrote the coalition.

Third, the coalition asked Putrajaya to “deliver clear, coordinated and confident” risk management communications, “making sure only reliable and verified information from the authorities gets disseminated, as opposed to fake news”.

Earlier, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) today called on the government to consider implementing a lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Yesterday, a group of six doctors have also urged Putrajaya to consider ordering a country wide lockdown in light of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.