KAJANG – The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the relaxation on the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which will be announced this Wednesday will be a safe and cautious measure.
Its Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said that the proposal was discussed meticulously among the officers and management of MOH to ensure that the government would not make mistakes by loosening the SOP.
“The cases are dropping and the hospitals are not under pressure, so, we do not want to make any mistake and we want to ensure that any relaxation given to the people are safe and careful in nature.
“Based to that, I will present it to the Cabinet Ministers on Wednesday, and if they agree to it, I will announce it this Wednesday,” he said during the launch of Gegar-18 (Anti-Smoking Generational End Game) at SMK Bandar Seri Putra today.
Also present was the Senior Minister of Education, Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.
Earlier, Khairy said that the MOH will be announcing several relaxations on the Covid-19 SOP this Wednesday (27 April).
He said, the MOH has informed Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob about the plan.
In another development, Khairy said that 1,939 dosses of second Covid-19 booster dose have been administered so far.
According to him, most of the recipients are senior citizens with comorbidity.
When asked about the number of MOH officers who will be on duty in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj season, Khairy said that the ministry will be announcing its new protocols on sending healthcare workers to the holy land soon.
“We have liaised with Tabung Haji and we were informed that only hajj pilgrims below the age of 65 are allowed.
“We are making preparations for the MOH healthcare workers to be there.
“We predict that the health issues would reduce based on the condition of this group, however, we will make sure that there will be sufficient of healthcare workers there,” he said.
The Hajj quota for Malaysia in 2022 is 14,306 pilgrims, 45% from its usual annual quota. -MalaysiaGazette
