KUALA LUMPUR: The Health and Sciences Covid-19 Advisory Group of Experts (EAG) today backed the Health Ministry to stay on as the main driver in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The EAG, in a statement, had disagreed with recent comments stating that it should "take over" pandemic response leadership at the Health Ministry.
Instead, the EAG said: The Health Ministry had been the centre of the struggle during this extremely challenging period.
"The EAG serves to complement the Health Ministry's pandemic strategy-setting and support public health best practices that will allow Malaysia to exit the pandemic as quickly as possible.
"To these aims, we have been meeting with the Health Ministry leaders since our formation and will continue to collaborate closely with all relevant stakeholders to derive immediate as well as medium-tolong-term plans for managing Covid-19 in Malaysia," it said.
The EAG was established on Feb 8 to provide evidence-based advice on Covid-19 management in Malaysia.
On top of the six undersigned members, the EAG is ably supported by a network of critical Technical Working Groups (TWG) comprising of medical, healthcare and industry experts who can be consulted on an ad-hoc basis.
There are seven TWGs:
* Public-private partnership (Hospital-based care);
* Public-private partnership (Primary care providers);
* Public health (Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support System);
* Data and technology;
* Vaccines;
* Strategic Communications; and,
* Covid-19 Frontliners and Healthcare Worker Welfare
"With this network of support, we hope to inspire a true, coordinated whole-of-society effort for beating Covid-19.
"As the pandemic continues to rage on at an alarming rate, we must stay focused on the shared goal of saving lives and livelihoods," the EAG added.
