THE Health Ministry is proposing that the government increase the fine for compoundable offences under Act 342 (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988) from the current RM1,000 to RM10,000.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the proposal was submitted to Parliament recently and will take some time to be passed.

“The act was drafted in 1988, (when) RM1,000 was reasonable, but now, we need to revise it… So, I leave it to the parliamentarians to decide,” he said during a special dialogue titled “Covid-19: Malaysia’s Journey Towards Flattening the Curve” in conjunction with the Malaysian Healthcare Conference 2020 today.

At the event, Noor Hisham was conferred the National Icon Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Public Health by the KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific.

Although Noor Hisham has received multiple awards for his contributions in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the credit should not go to himself but the whole team, especially Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“One person cannot make a difference. If you want to give credit, give it to the prime minister because he made the decision; I only advised him,” he said.

Meanwhile, on telemedicine, Noor Hisham said Malaysia is falling behind in terms of preparedness involving a digital healthcare system.

“Only during the crisis did we come out with MySejahtera (app) and all the software, but not before the pandemic. Therefore, I hope in the time to come, we prepare all these telemedicine or information technology approaches before a pandemic or infections.

“I would like to see proactive rather than reactive approach,” he added. – Bernama, August 25, 2020.