Health minister blames tabligh cluster on previous govt, gets told off by ex-minister

KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): Health Minister Datuk Seri Adham Baba said the previous government had failed to contain the tabligh cluster, without which Malaysia would only have small clusters of Covid-19 infections, Malaysiakini reported yesterday.

He said this despite the fact that the "Sheraton Move" political crisis had left the country without leadership except for interim prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad between Feb 24 and Feb 29.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as the eighth prime minister under his new Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition on March 1 and the PN cabinet, including the health minister, was only sworn in on March 10.

"On (March) 10, we had a new cluster emerge which the previous government failed to contain, which is the Tabligh cluster.

It (Sri Petaling tabligh gathering) happened from Feb 27 to March 3. It is very big. To date, we are still unable to (fully) stop its spread.

"There are still cases from the tabligh cluster that have infected up to the fifth generation.

"If the tabligh cluster was prevented, there would be no second wave. We may only have small clusters," he said in a conference call with Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi which was uploaded on Facebook, according to the Malaysiakini report.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad (above) and his former deputy Dr Lee Boon Chye said now was not the time to point fingers over the Sri Petaling cluster of infections.

Dzulkefly said Adham should instead be providing stewardship for the Health Ministry.

"Faced with a grave epidemic, the nation would like to see the minister providing stewardship and strategic leadership that can complement the role taken on by Health director-general (Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah)," he said.

Among the ways the minister could help, Dzulkefly said, was by harnessing the expertise of public health experts such as epidemiologists and infectious diseases specialists so that the government could deliver even better results in its fight against Covid-19.

He added that Adham should also be focused on helping to overcome the backlog of Covid-19 tests and exploring the use of artificial intelligence to help with mass testing and monitoring community infections as well as coordinating efforts to ensure adequate supply of personal protective equipment for frontliners.

Additionally, he said the health minister should also ensure that everyone adheres to the movement control order while also thinking up strategies to help ease the nation out of the partial shutdown.

Dzulkefly said if Adham insists on finding fault over the Sri Petaling cluster, he should be aware that approval for gatherings fall under the Home Ministry's purview, not the Health Ministry's.

Former deputy health minister Lee questioned if Adham's comment served as veiled criticism against the ministry’s long-serving director-general Noor Hisham who was overseeing the Covid-19 response while there was no government.

“Is he blaming Noor Hisham? Does he mean he did not do his work?

“He was the director-general during our time and he is still the same director-general now. Whatever information of the gathering would have gone to the director-general first, not the minister.

“I would ask him (Adham) to stop the blame game and get on with work. People are not interested in (him) saying whose responsibility it is,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

According to Malaysiakini, economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram, in an online dialogue yesterday titled "Beyond Lockdown: Towards New Normal" by the Oxford & Cambridge Society of Malaysia, had said the political crisis cost Malaysia three weeks in the battle against Covid-19.

He also pointed out that Malaysia had begun testing for Covid-19 as early as Jan 3.

According to Malaysiakini, Zahid repeatedly congratulated Adham for the health ministry's achievements during the video call.

Adham also shared about the various world leaders he had communicated with.

"I believe what I have done has been acknowledged by the world.

"I have had video conferencing with the World Health Organisation (WHO), I did a live (video conference) with the health ministers from China, Singapore and also a live conferencing, along with the prime minister with Asean ministers and Asean plus three which are Korea, Japan and China," he said.

Adham said some 270,000 health ministry frontliners, under him and director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah, will move ahead in the fight against Covid-19.

He said the partial lockdown appears to be yielding results and that Malaysia's recovery rate of 56% is also higher than the global average of 30%.

During the video call, Zahid also urged Adham to ensure that opposition constituencies also receive Covid-19-related aid.

Adham concurred and said he would take up the matter.

Malaysia has been under a partial lockdown via the movement control order (MCO) since March 18 in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The MCO is set to end on April 28 if there is no third extension.

As of noon yesterday, Malaysia recorded 5,251 Covid-19 cases and 86 deaths. However, 2,967 people have recovered while 2,198 are still in treatment.

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