Healthcare system on brink of collapse: Government’s head in the sand?

When India faced the worst days of its Covid crisis, the entire world knew.

The transparency regarding just how bad the problem was helped India ensure its government took the matter seriously, and got the help it needed. This is how India recovered from the near total collapse of its healthcare system.

The first step towards solving a problem is admitting we have one.

In Malaysia, our authorities have not admitted we have a problem.

A decades-old draconian culture of repressing the truth is now putting millions of Malaysian lives at risk. The government has consistently silenced the voices of civil servants, including medical frontline workers, and prevented them from telling the truth about how our system is on the brink of collapse.

Where once frontline medical workers maintained their silence for fear of losing their jobs, many are now sacrificing their own job security to speak up before more lives are lost due to a complete collapse of our healthcare system.

More and more stories are now emerging of how government Covid hospitals are completely overwhelmed and are becoming unable to give Malaysians with Covid the healthcare they need.

Resources are insufficient, and medical staff are overworked and exhausted. Reports are emerging of insufficient oxygen and insufficient beds, of senior staff breaking down, of CPR having to be performed on the floor, and of patients waiting outside emergency departments unable to breathe.

Meanwhile, the government continues to put its head in its sand and acts like there is nothing wrong.

Reports on the ground suggest that Ministry of International Trades and Industry (Miti) letters are now being issued to more and more companies allowing them to reopen, while there is again zero transparency on which factories are allowed to continue operating and why.

‘Lockdown’ measures seem to target the wrong people, while allowing business interests to continue to protect profits. Are our constantly changing ‘SOPs’ (standard operating procedures) truly based on data and science? The reasoning behind these decisions must be transparent for all to see.

There seems to be zero urgency regarding the fact that we have days where daily testing numbers go down, while the number of cases go up.

The entire government seems to have adopted a nonchalant attitude even as frontline medical workers are now using terms like “total collapse” to describe the state of our healthcare system.

We need to be ringing the alarm bells all over the country. We need the country to be on red alert. We need to stop being distracted by useless politicking, and for once, be truly united in fighting the Covid pandemic.

The country is facing what may very well be the worst, most life-threatening crisis we have ever faced in our existence, and we need the government to stop hiding the truth about it, and to start treating this like the crisis that it is.

If it is true that the government declared an emergency to combat Covid instead of to protect political interests, then the government should start acting as if this is indeed an emergency situation.

We call upon the government to immediately:

• acknowledge the problem and be transparent about the situation on the ground. Policy attention should be on solving the problem, and frontline medical personnel must be allowed to speak up on the situation they are facing with no repercussions from the authorities
• engage with the private healthcare sector to ease the burden on government hospitals. Engage constructively, and the use of emergency rules can be considered
• increase public healthcare spending in the short and long-term, so that longer-term healthcare capacity can be increased and problems like contract doctors can be solved. Increased funding must be accompanied by appropriate reforms in the organisational structure of the Ministry of Health

This joint statement is initiated by:

Projek #BangsaMalaysia, a joint initiative by the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (Abim) and Projek Wawasan Rakyat (POWR)

Endorsed by:

1. Aliran
2. Anak
3. Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim)
4. Centre for Independent Journalism
5. Childline Foundation
6. Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances (Caged)
7. Coalition for Business Integrity Berhad
8. Darul Naim Institute
9. Engage
10. G25 Malaysia
11. Gerakan Belia Se-Punjabi Malaysia
12. Ikram Muda
13. Lawyer Kamek for Change
14. Liga Rakyat Demokratik
15. LLG Cultural Development Centre
16. Mimosa Learning For All
17. North South Initiative
18. Our Journey
19. Parti Sosialis Malaysia
20. Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (Gerak)
21. Persatuan Alumni New Era Kajang
22. Persatuan Belia Harmoni Malaysia (Harmoni)
23. Persatuan Kebajikan Biji Sawi (Mustard Seed Soup Kitchen)
24. Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM)
25. Persatuan Komuniti Prihatin Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur
26. Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan
27. Persatuan Pemangkin Daya Masyarakat (Rose)
28. Pertubuhan Demokrat Sosial (Demuda)
29. Pertubuhan IKRAM Malaysia
30. Projek Wawasan Rakyat (POWR)
31. Reform
32. Sabah Reform Initiative (Sari)
33. Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (Sawo)
34. Sisters in Islam
35. Tamil Foundation Malaysia
36. Tenaganita
37. The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH)
38. Treat Every Environment Special Sdn Bhd (TrEES)
39. Yayasan Chow Kit
40. Youth Nation Club (YNC)

Individuals

1. Ain Husniza #MakeSchoolASaferPlace
2. Akmal Hisham Abdul Rahim
3. Alawiyah binti Yussof
4. Altaf Deviyati
5. Aravind Selva
6. Arief Subhan
7. Beatrice Chan
8. BK Soon
9. Devaruban Samalam Ruban
10. Dr Savinder Kaur Gill
11. Eric Chia
12. Ezrina Alias
13. Hamid Jusoh
14. Hardial Singh
15. Hartini Zainudin
16. Lt Col (R) Joginder Singh
17. Ltkol B Basir bin H Ab Rahman
18. Masbah Omar
19. Mohd Yazid bin Abdullah
20. Muhammad Adli Musa
21. Muhammad Aiman bin Ali
22. Noor Zuliana Ahmad
23. Norbik Idris
24. Norman Goh
25. Nurma Abd Karim
26. Ooi Kok Hin
27. Pan Jen Lin
28. Prudence Lingham
29. Pusparajah SK Selvadurai
30. Richard Wee
31. Rohizan Sam
32. Saiful Nizam #MakeSchoolASaferPlace
33. Shalini Muniapan
34. Shaq Koyok
35. Sharifah Shahidah
36. Shawn Sharif
37. Sivakumar Nadara
38. Vinod Naidu Munikrishnayya
39. Yap Sook Yee
40. Zaharom Nain

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

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