COVID-19 | Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today declined to respond to an accusation that the ministry was to be blamed for the failure of cabinet minister Khairuddin Aman Razali to quarantine himself after returning from Turkey.
He told a press conference in Putrajaya that the matter was under police investigation and thus any comment on the case might jeopardise it.
"As I have informed before, this case is under police investigation. So it is better for us to refer to the police.
"Because if we were to comment (on the matter), it might jeopardise police investigations," he said.
Noor Hisham was answering a reporter's question over the claim which alleged that the health authorities were to blame as they did not make Khairuddin wear the pink quarantine bracelet as required of all those undergoing mandatory quarantining.
The allegation was made by PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin during a speech on Saturday.
Hashim had said that Khairuddin could not be blamed for not being made to wear the pink wristband upon his return from Turkey last month.
"It's not his fault […] the Health Ministry was negligent, so was the Foreign Affairs Ministry, causing him to be attacked," Hashim had said.
The PAS leader, in defending Khairuddin, also claimed that the latter was supposedly a "hero" for the country but instead, was getting criticised over the matter.
"PAS should not keep quiet. He is a hero of the people who saved Malaysia, and he is getting maligned [...] don't let him defend himself alone," Hashim was heard saying during the speech in Ipoh on Saturday.
Khairuddin's case came into the spotlight after Seputeh MP Teresa Kok raised in Dewan Rakyat about his trip to Turkey between July 2 and 7, where the Kuala Nerus MP did not quarantine himself for 14 days upon his return.
Under the law, anyone who returned from overseas during the Covid-19 pandemic must undergo 14-days quarantine.
The government had initially enforced mandatory quarantine at government-approved facilities before changing the decision to allow returnees to quarantine themselves at home.
However, this decision was reversed on July 21 after the government found that several individuals had breached their quarantine order and posed risks to the public. - Mkini
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