KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today announced the appointment of Dr Rose Nani Mudin as the new Sabah Health Department director, effective yesterday.
Dr Rose Nani is a public health medical consultant with vast experience in the fields of public and clinical health. She was previously deputy director of infectious disease under the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) disease control division.
Her expertise is in the field of epidemiology and vector-borne diseases, having served as head of the vector-borne diseases sector under the same MOH division.
Dr Rose Nani has also worked at the Putrajaya health office, Kuala Lumpur health department, Hulu Langat district health office, Selangor state health department, Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Sungai Koyan Health Center in Raub, Pahang.
She succeeds Dr Christina Rudin, who was first appointed to the role in November 2012.
Dr Christina played a critical role in stemming the spread of Covid-19 after the Sabah election was held in September last year, leaving the state grappling with a spike in coronavirus cases and deaths.
Daily reported cases went from relatively zero to as high as 1,119 on November 6 and remained in triple digits up until March this year, before falling to double-digit rates as low as 29 new cases a day.
Yesterday, when more than 11,000 new Covid-19 cases were recorded nationwide, Sabah’s incidence rate was among the lowest at below 10 cases per 100,000 population. The national rate was 33.9 cases per 100,000 population.
Terengganu also reported below 10 cases per 100,000 population yesterday, while Perlis recorded zero new infections.
The number of daily Covid-19 deaths in Sabah has also declined to low single-digits from the 12 reported at the height of its outbreak.
Some Sabahans are disgruntled by the federal MOH’s relocation of Dr Christina, claiming that her transfer to MOH’s Family Health Development Division in Putrajaya “baffled” many in the medical fraternity.
“I believe that this transfer at this point in time is ‘budu’, self-serving and even vindictive. Lest we forget, Dr Christina and her team have effectively, tirelessly and selflessly got Sabah out of the “pilihanraya” (election) Covid wave despite all odds!
“It is sad that in the public service in Malaysia, heartache always befalls leaders who have integrity, accountability, empathy, humility, resilience, vision, influence, and positivity,” one doctor in Sabah posted on social media.
CodeBlue has attempted to contact Dr Christina to confirm her alleged transfer to Putrajaya and the reason for her relocation.
