PRIME Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday announced an additional allocation of RM160 million to be channelled to 26 hospitals to contain the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Expressing his thanks and appreciation to doctors, nurses, medical officers and all those in the Health Ministry who have worked tirelessly for the past 90 days, Muhyiddin said the allocation could be used to buy medical and non-medical assets.
“To help the ministry implement programmes to contain the spread of Covid-19 nationwide, we have approved more than RM259 million to buy medicine, equipment and other needs.
“There was an application for a further RM160 million submitted to the Finance Ministry. I will inform the finance minister to approve it as soon as possible as this is a crisis that is serious and (the approval) cannot be delayed.”
He said this after a briefing by Johor Health director Dr Aman Rabu at Permai Hospital here on efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Muhyiddin said he thanked the Health Ministry for its contributions and believed all Malaysians were equally grateful for its commitment to curbing the pandemic.
“We hope their spirits remain strong,” he said.
He said that due to the urgency of the situation, the ministry had to sidestep the tender process when it came to procurement of equipment to meet the pressing needs of hospitals.
He reminded Malaysians that the country would remain under the two-week Movement Control Order (MCO) that took effect on Wednesday.
“The Movement Control Order is in force and my advice remains the same: no gatherings, shut down schools, stay at home and do not venture anywhere until the situation improves.
“The order should be taken seriously as the virus is spreading. We do not want anyone being a victim to this dangerous virus, so it’s best to just stay at home,” said Muhyiddin.
Despite being given some leeway to shop for essentials such as food and medicine, he advised the public to limit their outdoor hours and to practise social distancing.
As for those who are part of the manufacturing workforce of sectors allowed to operate, he said they were subjected to the standard operating procedures issued by the International Trade and Industry Ministry.
“We do not want people to take this lightly. We must all lend our fullest cooperation to prevent this pandemic from spreading further.
“It’s been three days (since MCO was announced), but the number of cases are going up. If we were to strictly follow directives and do not go out, then we can hope for the situation to improve and cases to reduce.
“That is why these two weeks are critical for all Malaysians, and if we are to adhere to the directives, then we could emulate China, where they managed to contain the outbreak in two months despite the virus originating from there.”
He said this was because the public were not allowed to go out with strict laws in place to deter them from doing so.