KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — The Melaka state government said it will take action against federal health officers if investigations find they had misinformed a state assemblyman that he was free of Covid-19 infection.
A Melaka assemblyman came forward yesterday to say that he had contracted Covid-19 after returning from the Sabah election campaign last Monday, but he claimed that the Alor Gajah district health office initially told him the results from his test at the airport were negative, before saying a day later that he had actually tested positive.
“After discussing with the state health office yesterday, I asked for improvements to be made and the investigation will continue in relation to this matter, and if it is due to staff or officer factors, action will be taken against all those involved,” Melaka state health and anti-drug executive councillor Rahmad Mariman told a press conference at Ayer Molek, Melaka today, Astro Awani reported.
According to Rahmad, the Perikatan Nasional state government is seriously taking this issue of alleged technical error involving the Alor Gajah district health office and that further investigations are being done to find out the real cause. The district health office is under the federal Ministry of Health (MOH).
He also said that based on preliminary investigations, it is found that this is the first time such a mistake has happened not only in Melaka, but in Malaysia.
“I see that there are a few technical weaknesses that caused it to happen.”
The assemblyman, who did not have any symptoms of the coronavirus infection, said that he cut his quarantine band, after he was informed about his negative test results Tuesday, and visited Seri Negeri Complex, the state secretariat building, to attend to some matters on Wednesday. The same evening, he was informed that he had actually tested positive with Covid-19.
Although he did not want to blame any party for the mistake, he hoped that information could be properly coordinated to avoid bigger mistakes.
Following that, all state government officials, including Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali, have undergone screening for Covid-19 today. Besides government officers, support staff and drivers for the state executive council, who were suspected of having close contact with the infected executive councillor, have also been screened.
