Despite the acute shortage of doctors, long waiting times for a simple outpatient appointment, longer waiting times for non-emergency surgery, these young doctors are not guaranteed a permanent position in the public sector.
What is needed is the political will to make sustained and strategic investments in order to ensure that every Malaysian is able to receive high-quality healthcare whenever they need it.
Malaysia is currently facing a shortage of specialists with only 3.9 specialists to 10,000 population (as of 30 June 2020) compared to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) average of 14.3 specialists to 10,000 population in 2018.
This has led to some patients with chronic diseases unable to receive desired treatment. Recent sources revealed that several deaths were recorded among this group of patients, which is of course not included under the Covid-19 death statistics.
Yes, Sarawak has a 14-day quarantine period, but remember that these people have a chance of contracting the disease from Sarawak and bringing it back with them to other states.
Important data such as Covid tests' turnover time, the barriers and constraints, equipment and PPE information that are constantly updated, and area of need can help enormously in getting everyone to assist.
It will also be important for all relevant data on equipment, manpower, bed strength, testing capacity to be displayed on a state command centre dashboard for better coordination among stakeholders.