Needed: MPs who understand the health agenda

 

Everyone expects their representatives to perform their jobs optimally and represent them well. After all, that’s what they are there to do: represent us, the common man. We pick our representatives according to geographical area, so primarily these individuals are the voice of the constituents living in that particular area.

But each MP also brings their professional training and lived experiences to the job. For example, a civil engineer who becomes an MP is also expected to represent the engineering community as well as being able to lend a professional eye in overseeing policies or programmes which have some engineering elements in them when such legislations move through Parliament.

It is for this reason that traditionally, we have had doctors as health ministers. It was presumed that medical professionals would be able to better understand the needs and nuances of the health system and thus be able to better manage the ministry compared to counterparts from other fields.

Interestingly, however, there have been quite a few ministers in recent years who are not from the medical profession but have done the job well. Among them are Liow Tiong Lai and Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Although they helmed the ministry at different times, both managed to competently ensure that services were running and even put in many different measures to improve the system.

But while these ministers may have had a slight advantage in running the ministry as both of them were health professionals (even though they were not doctors), a lot of praise needs to go to our current caretaker health minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

With a non-health background, he was catapulted into the hot seat at one of its most difficult times in recent years, smack in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Not only has he been extremely competent and capable at running the ministry and navigating us through difficult times, he has also been astute at addressing large “invisible” factors impacting the national health system such as issues of human resources, causative factors such as tobacco control; and even laying down the groundwork for health reform – the most anyone has done in years on this issue.

There is a lot of concern on whether Khairy will contest and win the election from whichever constituency that he will be standing in, and this is really bad news for the health landscape as a whole.

Losing Khairy’s expertise in Parliament will lose us one of the most capable health ministers in recent years, and even if he is moved to another ministry, you can be assured of his voice and support to health issues as a lawmaker.

Unfortunately, Khairy seems not to be the only MP who’s seat may be at risk. Long-standing health advocate Charles Santiago is another individual who has championed many health issues in Parliament and has been instrumental in pushing the health agenda.

Losing him will also mean a big loss to the community as a whole for the important role he has played in ensuring that health remains a big part of the political agenda in Parliament.

Our representatives need to be capable of representing us. As a health professional, I make the case that as shown by the Covid-19 pandemic, health is truly one of the most important agendas in the socio-political economic sphere, and when it is neglected or not given the proper attention it requires, it will cause a cataclysmic crash affecting every other sector of our daily lives.

As such, as health professionals, we need representatives who can represent us i.e. ensure that health issues remain an important part of the national agenda in Parliament. We are an important lobby, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and it’s easy to forget we have a large voice.

In fact, I argue that health is an issue that transcends the needs of health professionals. Every living, breathing Malaysian has a stake in the health issue, and we need to ensure that we have representatives who can represent our health interests.

So rather than blindly voting along party lines, or not even coming out to vote as some have expressed; I plead with every Malaysian to clearly assess the candidates being put up and vote for those who have demonstrated clearly their resolve and commitment to health issues, supporting good health policies and legislation such as Khairy, Santiago, Dzulkefly and even Dr Sim Kui Hian from Sarawak.

These are the representatives that will ensure we remain healthy and alive. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.