Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe, newly appointed WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore, recently paid a courtesy call on the Honourable Minister of Health Malaysia, YB Khairy Jamaluddin.
During his visit, Dr Rabindra commended the Honourable Health Minister and the Ministry of Health for its leadership in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the successful National COVID-19 Immunization Programme. He complimented the Government of Malaysia on its carefully calibrated re-opening of the country, which began on 1st April 2022, as the country continues to see a decline in daily reported new infections. Another important point of discussion was the need to use the current response strategies to strengthen health system capacities in the long term, with the consideration of key elements in the proposed Health White Paper on Healthcare Reform in Malaysia.
Dr Rabindra thanked the Honourable Minister of Health for his active participation as a member of the WHO Executive Board and congratulated him on his upcoming appointment as the Vice President of the World Health Assembly in May 2022.
Also discussed were several other areas of collaboration and areas where WHO can continue to provide technical assistance to strengthen in-country capacities as well as opportunities to highlight Malaysia’s leadership role in regional and global health issues, whilst continuing to support recovery of routine health services affected by the pandemic and healthy ageing in the country.
The meeting was also attended by YBhg. Datuk Harjeet Singh A/L Hardev Singh, the newly appointed Secretary-General of the Ministry of Health, YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Noor Hisham bin Abdullah, Director General of Health, Senior Officials from the Honourable Minister of Health’s Office and Dr Elil Renganathan, former WHO Director-General’s Representative for Evaluation and Organizational Learning and Head of the WHO Evaluation Office.