Enough of CMCO, EMCO, TEMCO alphabet soup, govt told

 

Police and military units on guard in an area placed in a TEMCO (targeted enhanced movement control order) lockdown. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Health experts have proposed that Malaysia switch to a tiered alert system to signify different stages of emergency in the Covid-19 crisis, so as to provide clearer information on the various protocols and restrictions that will apply.

Malaysian Medics International chairman Dr Vikkineshwaran Siva Subramaniam said: “We need to provide clarification and clear directions for the public, not leave it to their discretion. Most of the information that the public requires is being given but it’s confusing.

“For one thing, the names that we have been using for our movement control order, we have had so many variations — MCO, RMCO, CMCO, TEMCO and so on.

“These abbreviations don’t actually hit a point. I feel that the UK’s five-tier alert system is more effective because, even without any context, the alert makes sense. Level 1 is good, level 5 is bad,” he said.

Dr Vikkineshwaran Siva Subramaniam.

Britain and Ireland introduced a five-tiered, colour-coded system in May to define the different measures for different situations. These levels are based on the virus’ reproduction number (R0, pronounced R-naught) and number of confirmed cases at any one time.

He said people in the UK had already been primed on what to expect with each level save for some changes from time to time, which made things less of a surprise.

“The sad part is that the Malaysian government is actually doing a lot to curb Covid-19 but its public relations skills are not great. Hence, the public is not able to gauge and appreciate the actions taken and precautions needed.”

The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy said alert levels were more coherent compared with the broad and general restrictions used here, adding that the prior use of zones was useful during the initial stage of the pandemic.

“But it now needs to be replaced with a better framework which reflects our increased understanding of the outbreak and balances the reality that we need different parts of our economy to function.

Azrul Mohd Khalib.

“A tiered or numbered alert with clear dos and don’ts are more coherent and less confusing. Right now, it seems almost arbitrary, occasionally contradictory, and seemingly not evidence-based,” said its CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib.

Azrul told FMT that there should be no ambiguity with decisions on SOPs with the National Security Council (NSC)’s coordinating mechanism, although stakeholders should be consulted earlier and consistently on any changes.

“Rather than simply deciding and then expecting implementation, stakeholders, especially from the private sector, expect coherence, predictability and consistency. It would be chaotic and self-harming otherwise.” - FMT