Former health DG: Movement control not well
thought-out, poorly executed
Wednesday, 18 Mar 2020
KUALA
LUMPUR: The movement control order (MCO) may be a good move, but the plan and
implementation have not been well thought out and poorly executed, says former
deputy Health director-general Prof Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.
The
people were not well prepared and did not seem to understand what the order
entailed and how it was going to help control the Covid-19 spread, he said.
"After
the Prime Minister's announcement, there was no follow-up forum or announcement
to explain in detail what MCO means, and how it is going to be
implemented," he added.
Following
the announcement, a great number of Malaysians in various states started travelling
back to their hometowns, some gathering in crowds at bus terminals and some at
police stations to apply for inter-state travel permits.
This
resulted in concerns that this might worsen the spread.
Dr
Lokman said it appeared that key government departments that were supposed to
execute the order were not ready to implement it, such as the police and the
army.
"By
right, immediately after the PM's announcement, the army should have moved
in," he said.
He said
some could argue that this would create panic, but the government could explain
and calm the people down.
"Now,
we have created panic anyway, and with people escaping in the thousands from
Klang Valley, where most of the cases are, it only helped to spread the disease
further," he said.
Dr
Lokman also said that other government agencies too did not seem to understand
the significance of the order and had issued guidelines that were against the
principle of the order.
The
Higher Education Ministry, for example, in a circular released late Tuesday evening
(March 17) gave the option for students to stay put in their hostels or
"balik kampung" (return home), and some even closed down hostels and
forced students to go back home.
"How
could all these happened if the National Security Council knows exactly what it
has to do?” he asked.
He
lambasted the council for the lack of leadership and authority as the plans
were poorly prepared and resulted in an utterly confused government machinery.
“I
think the council must take responsibility (for the failure).
“With
the Inspector-General of Police backtracking from his order for MCO, it just
shows that the council failed to anticipate all possibilities and failed to
plan to respond to such possibilities.
Dr
Lokman said the country’s leadership failed to learn from the experiences of
other countries.
“We may
have missed the golden opportunity to stop Covid-19," he said.
..
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.