THE Health Ministry is not discriminating against children of medical frontliners at childcare centres but is only placing them at special areas, says Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The director-general of health was responding to the Malaysian Medical Association’s claims that the children of healthcare workers are subjected to “discriminatory policies and practice”.

“We are not restricting, we are merely allocating a special place for the children,” he said.

Noor Hisham said healthcare workers are one of the eight targeted groups at risk of contracting the virus.

He said the ministry was following the guidelines by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States and needed to look at the risk, but it was not discrimination.

Noor Hisham said there would be problems if the children of staff were to go to hospitals where they will be mingling with children of other frontliners.

“If they were to mix with other children, they must have a special place prepared – not isolation – so we can give specific attention to the children,” Noor Hisham said, adding that the guideline on the matter had yet to be brought to the National Security Council (NSC) and were being fined tuned. – May 25, 2020.