AUGUST 17 — The news started to spread on Saturday, August 15.
News reports of a chartered medical flight – AirAsia’s first international flight of such kind – touching down in Penang from Medan sent shock waves of surprise and concern all through the island.
Many residents, still wary of even dining out, were unaware that our country’s borders were already open, and to medical tourists to boot.
Despite news coverage on credible outlets, details were scarce.
No information on how many were on the flight or how many of these chartered medical planes were planned for the future.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow was asked about the issue the very next day but his short response, later uploaded in a total of four sentences on his official Facebook page, seemed disconnected.
“I have no information as to the number,” he had said, a reply that was later also uploaded onto his Facebook page.
Fuelled by perceptions of possibly hundreds of sick Indonesians arriving on our shores in the same week that the Komtar tower was forced to change its colour from green to yellow (reflecting the Covid-19 zone colour of the state), Penangites released their wrath.
Hundreds of comments filed in under his posting urging Chow to rethink the policy in view of the raging global pandemic.
Chow’s team went into overdrive and just before midnight on the same day; he had a better response.
He detailed response was that the state had not been previously informed of the chartered flight.
A total of three patients from Medan had been onboard with all SOP adhered to but in light of the current situation, the state would permit no more chartered flights to land at its airport.
An emergency meeting with primary agencies will be scheduled for the next day and, as a nice touch perhaps to cool tempers, Chow thanked all Penangites for their feedback.
This new development was rapidly shared across private messaging and social media outlets though a few questions still remained.
What would happen to the patients already here? And how many caretakers and family members had accompanied those patients? Being from out-of-town, they have no residences to serve their 14-day quarantine, so where will they be housed? At the hospital? Will they be confined to rooms to ensure the vulnerable at this hospital will also be protected?
Since the first news of the chartered plane broke, people have scavenged through the Internet for information and details.
Wary of fake news, netizens have looked through established news outlets and government websites in the country hoping to find more about the SOP and what was available in the original, single story on AirAsia’s plans to grow its medical tourism business.
Most, like me, would have come up empty.
Finally, after two days of searching, a credible news story emerged from Jakarta, not Malaysia.
Now, chartered medical flights have been allowed into Malaysia since July 1, but no one here seemed to pay attention to it until the first plane landed.
Those in Indonesia, however, have had more interest in it as it is their citizens who will be utilising this service to return to the long-popular medical destinations like Penang for treatment.
On July 21, The Jakarta Post wrote an extensive piece on how to apply for these chartered planes; who would be eligible, what the procedures are, how they would be tested for Covid-19 and all the way down to an estimated cost of the 14-day quarantine they would need to undergo.
Here, some answers are revealed: only one caretaker is allowed with each patient, unless the patient is under the age of 12, in which case, two caretakers are allowed.
This means that a maximum of nine people (not including the crew) were on that chartered medical flight that landed in Penang on Friday.
Much less than the doomsday image of a plane packed full of coughing Indonesians.
Another point was revealed, only two categories of patients are allowed on these chartered flights: those who require ICU treatment (Category 1A) and those who have critical health problems such as cancer, heart disease etc (Category 1B).
So, logically, those on these planes are not just rich patients coming for a follow-up, they are really sick individuals who require urgent treatment.
This gives another layer of perspective to the whole situation.
While Penangites are understandably on guard against unnecessary visitors at this time, I would be hard-pressed to find someone here who wouldn’t consider the entry of a five-year-old late-stage lung cancer patient in need of surgery.
The pandemic has put all of us on edge.
And a lack of clarity and clear, complete information only makes things worse.
Chow has now announced a complete rejection of medical chartered flights to the state.
Whether this is in his prerogative or power remains to be seen.
But this decision will impact more than one party.
Hospitals who have reserved beds and planned treatment for would-be visitors will now be left in the lurch.
Sick Indonesian patients, some of them very young, who were banking on receiving life-saving treatment in Penang will now have to scramble for alternatives.
Airlines who have sold tickets on these chartered flights will be plunged into deeper troubles.
And the federal government, who allowed borders to be open to medical chartered flights, will now look inconsistent and untrustworthy by other nations.
Given the Covid-19 situation, perhaps those consequences are worth keeping the health and mental well-being of Penangites safe.
But perhaps, with better communication from the onset – between federal and state governments, airlines and hospitals with local authorities and leaders and their citizens – a lot of panic, mistrust and stress could have been avoided.
And we could have had a meaningful conversation and serious consideration into assisting the sick in our neighbouring countries who really need our medical help.
But none of that, sadly, is possible now.
* Andrea Filmer is a freelance journalist based in Penang.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
