KJ: We need to level 'mountains' of sectoral SOPs with general guidelines

 

COVID-19 | Tonnes of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place today are complicated and difficult to understand, said new Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Speaking at a special media interview session recently, he explained that this was why he and several other ministers are working to level the "mountains and mountains of pages" being used by the National Security Council and replace them with a more public-friendly version.

"I think there are too many sectoral SOPs that are too specific. I think we need to make it general, make it applicable across sectors.

"We need to be clearer to people. Should a particular area see an outbreak, then we move to a second category where the SOPs are again very clear.

"Right now, I think people have to spend a lot of time going through the list and find out what's happening. We want to move away from that. Just a small list of SOPs that are clear, (for) different levels of outbreaks," he said.

Khairy, who was sworn in as health minister last week, was referring to the various sets of SOP being enforced nationwide for the different phases of the National Recovery Plan.

Prior to the recovery plan, Malaysians had to deal with different sets of movement control order (MCO), which at some points had also seen different rules applied for different sectors and locations.

In his maiden press conference as the minister, Khairy had on Wednesday announced that the government will move away from the total containment approach when dealing with the pandemic, and shift to treat it as an endemic.

He said then that a new set of rules would be introduced for people to return to their normal lifestyle while maintaining safety.

According to Khairy, he is working together with the ministers in charge of the NSC, Finance Ministry and Communications and Multimedia Ministry to formulate the new SOPs.

"We will start the work next week, and I am confident by the end of September, we will be able to come up with a list of SOPs which are easier to understand."

Opening up sectors

Asked on the endemic phase, the minister said the Health Ministry is committed to ensuring the opening of sectors are done responsibly and in a safe manner.

He is optimistic that most sectors can open completely once Malaysia reaches the stage.

However, there are certain sectors in which the health authority would exercise more caution before allowing their reopening.

These include those that would involve large crowd gathering at a venue, such as concerts, indoor entertainment events, and watching sports at a stadium.

For these sectors to be allowed again, Khairy said the Health Ministry would have to consider several other factors.

"Before I announce that we are comfortable for those sectors to be opened up, there are a lot of other factors, for instance, ventilation of the venues, that we have to take into consideration."

According to him, ventilation is an issue that is important to be addressed during the pandemic, and it would be made a part of the new SOPs.

As the ministry targets to move into an endemic stage when the national immunisation programme has covered at least 80 percent of the country's adult population, Khairy was asked what would happen if they cannot meet the targeted threshold.

To this, the minister said that they will make sure that it is going to work by using the carrot and stick approach.

"We will push until it gets to 80 percent. That is my target, and we must achieve that.

"As I said, we will continue to encourage people, continue to incentivise them. But worst comes to worst, we will make it compulsory.

"I don't want to have to get there," he said. - Mkini