THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) takes a serious view of the discriminatory practices against healthcare workers residing in a condominium in Petaling Jaya where the condo’s lifts have been segregated for use to protect other residents from becoming infected with Covid-19, MMA was recently informed.

These discriminatory practices began when the condominium management learnt that a healthcare worker and tenant was diagnosed with Covid-19.

The worker, who serves at a public healthcare facility, was admitted to hospital after being diagnosed with Covid-19 at the end of March.

However, the condominium’s management had only been made aware of this in mid-April after receiving information from another tenant.

The common areas are now regularly cleaned and the temperature of residents is being taken upon entering the premises.

Recently, the condo’s management took it a notch further and decided to designate one of the three lifts (without the resident pass access panel) for medical and essential services workers.

These discriminatory practices demonstrate a serious problem of misinformation exists among the public.

While we welcome the regular cleaning of common areas and temperatures of residents being taken upon entry as precautionary steps, the segregation of residents for shared facilities such as lifts is unnecessary, and it smacks of discrimination against our healthcare workers.

There is a sense that some people are going beyond what is actually needed in terms of precautionary measures out of intense fear and this is one particular example.

The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) advice has been simple and consistent from the start in managing the situation nationwide.

Avoid crowds, wash your hands frequently with soap, regularly sanitise your hands, regularly disinfect frequently touched surfaces, keep a social distance of 1-2m from others when in public and during the MCO, avoid non-essential trips outdoors and stay at home.

If all these preventive measures are taken, there should be no reason to be afraid.

The advice by our Ministry of Health is in line with evidence-based recommendations by the World Health Organisation.

The ministry is doing an excellent job in managing the situation as can be seen in the progress made in reducing the number of infections and spread across the country.

The public should be listening to ministry, take its advice seriously and only accept verified, substantiated information from credible, reputable sources.

We urge the authorities to investigate such discriminatory practices against our healthcare workers and take appropriate action.

We also urge the ministries to also step up their efforts to address these issues of fear and misinformation among the public to avoid similar types of issues.

* Dr. N. Ganabaskaran is president of the Malaysian Medical Association.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.