KUCHING, June 1 — Selangau MP Baru Bian has accused the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) of adopting “half measures” that have failed to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Sarawak.
In a statement today, the Ba Kelalan assemblyman pointed out Sarawak is currently among the top states in the country with alarming proportions of Covid-19 infections and patient under investigation (PUI) cases.
He said the state cannot afford to let the situation spiral further out of control especially when hospitals, medical facilities, and front-liners are being stretched to breaking point.
“A grim picture indeed which is not expected to improve, taking into consideration the ‘half-measures’ adopted by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and our Sarawak government.
“The many standard operating procedures (SOPs) and apparent differing procedures has led many to believe that SDMC is ‘blowing in the wind’ — to borrow from Bob Dylan’s famous song,” he said.
He cited the handling of events leading to the Pasai Cluster in Sibu earlier this year, which triggered the ‘super spread’ of Covid-19 transmissions, as a sad example.
“Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the index case was allowed to return home from Johor to her longhouse following her father’s death.
“While initial Covid-19 screening of the index case was negative, the index case, subsequently infected 58 longhouses that led to 29 deaths. Dr Noor Hisham said this was a good example of an interstate travel case that led to a high number of infections,” he said.
According to Baru, the state government should have “locked the stable door” by disallowing interstate travel and insisted on mandatory quarantine at a designated quarantine centre.
“Prevention is better than cure in disease control, more so during a pandemic as the said ‘super-spreader’ was returning to Sarawak from West Malaysia,” he said.
Baru claimed that having politicians rather than professionals in charge of managing the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak has led to a tendency to “play to the gallery”.
“This has already happened in full view of Sarawakians, when the SDMC advisor unilaterally rejected the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine although it was later shown through the ‘opt-in’ volunteer programme that ordinary Sarawakians have no problem with the same. The rush to be different from Malaya seems to supersede all logical thoughts,” he lamented.
Baru said it did not help that many Sarawakians were left guessing over the two-day time lapse to announce the SOP on May 28 when SDMC decided not to follow the Movement Control Order announced by the National Security Council on May 26.
He called for the mass vaccination of eligible Sarawakians within the shortest time possible to contain the spread of Covid-19 and prevent more unnecessary deaths.
Baru said the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines must be kept short and simple.
“It should not be encumbered or frustrated by bureaucratic processes.
“The online (Covid-19 vaccination) application support must be user-friendly to enable even the least IT-literate person to access it without any hassle or complication,” he said.
Baru cited the recent online registration for the AstraZeneca vaccine as a “horror story of sorts despite it being sorted out after much outrage and condemnations, if not frustrations”.
“All said, the procurement, registration, supply, delivery, and vaccination chain must be well-oiled to ensure that no more hiccups or disruptions will surface to derail this noble endeavour of protecting and safeguarding the lives of all Sarawakians throughout the state,” he said.
“The needless confusion is alarming as it presupposes lack of decisive thought. Above it all, the Sarawak government tries to play the ‘autonomy’ trump card in so far as SOPs and MCOs are concerned, leaving much to be desired and disappointing, if not leaving everyone clueless, to be more precise.”
He said after all the noise about autonomy, it was National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin who announced on May 29 that the immunisation programme in Sarawak would be accelerated to ensure that the state is fully vaccinated by August, before the next state election is called.
Baru said this led Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is SDMC chairman, to confirm the state would now take its vaccine supply from the federal government.
“This is despite Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s earlier announcement that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had approved Sarawak’s request to procure an initial 500,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine to complement the federal government’s supply.
“Until the shipment of vaccines is expedited, received, and delivered on time to all the designated vaccination centres, it is still words only, and we shall see. We earnestly hope this isn’t a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. For Sarawak’s sake, we wish them well in this endeavour,” he added. — Borneo Post
