Adham Baba fends off jabs on a tamer second day

 

Dr Adham Baba came out with his head held high, winning points by promising that no action would be taken against the doctors who went on strike yesterday. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The second day of the Dewan Rakyat sitting was not as fiery as the first but the MPs were still shooting verbal abuse at each other, with health minister Dr Adham Baba bearing the brunt of the attacks.

Still, Adham came out with his head held high, winning points by promising that no action would be taken against the doctors who went on strike yesterday, and refusing to back down when confronted by Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs wanting the Ivermectin drug approved for Covid-19 treatment.

If anyone had to cover his face in shame, it was Umno’s Tajuddin Abdul Rahman who did not wear a mask in Parliament. His party veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was also in the news, asking to be seated among the independents.

Nga Kor Ming (PH-Teluk Intan) brought up Adham’s old gaffes involving the “Spanish fly” and “warm water” saying he could tolerate those mistakes but not the over 8,000 Covid-19 deaths so far under his watch.

Saying there was a lack of attempt by the government to analyse why it had failed, Nga told Adham to resign and allow others who are more capable to handle and manage the crisis.

Tony Pua (PH-Damansara) also grilled Adham over why the ministry took so long to order vaccines as Singapore, United States, United Kingdom and Israel had placed their vaccine orders by July last year.

The Malaysian government, Pua said, had their first agreement to buy Sinovac from China in November and Pfizer in December, thus causing a delay in the national vaccination programme.

Contract doctors

This was hotly discussed among MPs today with former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad asking the government to extend the contracts of the affected doctors to eight years compared with the present two years to complete their specialist training.

But Adham said the two-year contract extension was an interim solution.

While junior doctors unhappy with the interim solution had organised a strike, Adham gave an assurance that no disciplinary action would be taken against them by the ministry.

PAS MP Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman was also quick to take praise, saying only Perikatan Nasional (PN) – and not Barisan Nasional or PH – had responded to the contract doctors’ plight.

Pressure to use Ivermectin

Adham stood firm on this despite pressure from MPs for the medication to be used immediately.

These opposition MPs said it had successfully been used in India and the Philippines to treat Covid-19 patients without any side effects but Adham asked the opposition to wait a little longer until clinical trials conclude in September.

Hearing this, the MPs, who were from PKR and Amanah, asked Adham if the government is waiting for more people to die as clinical results may only be released in October. They pushed him to use his ministerial powers during the Emergency but in return he asked them to write to the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for approval.

India and the Philippines have not acknowledged Ivermectin as a “miracle cure” and WHO has reported that the data is sketchy at best.

Malaysia recorded over 200 Covid-19 deaths for the second day in a row, bringing the total number of fatalities to 8,408.

Oops, Tajuddin does it again

Controversial Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman is set to be fined for not wearing a face mask inside the Parliament building.

This is the second time the Umno man will face action for breaching the SOP. He was first compounded for not wearing a face mask during the LRT crash press conference at the end of May.

Silence on Emergency ordinances

The shockwaves from the revocation of the Emergency ordinance continued with Umno MP Noh Omar saying that if the ordinance had been lifted on July 21, there was no point in organising the five-day “special sitting” to discuss the Emergency ordinance covering health, finance and social issues.

Opposition MPs also demanded law minister Takiyuddin Hassan to answer immediately if the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had been presented with the revocation request and had approved it.

Takiyuddin told MPs that he could not answer because the speaker had made a ruling that he should reply on Monday. This prompted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to urge the speaker to do the right thing and not allow the minister to hide behind the speaker’s chair.

While the public waits for Monday, it is not known if those with court cases found breaching the Emergency ordinances will need to attend their hearings or pay fines of up to RM10,000.

While all this was happening, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN-Gua Musang) threw a spanner in the works for the government, submitting an application to move his seat away from the government to the independent bloc, leaving everyone guessing if the government still has the numbers to rule.

Four other MPs from Umno, including party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – were also said to have done the same thing but speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said he had not received any notice. - FMT