PETALING JAYA: Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has thanked residents of a Pahang village for rescuing three health ministry staff whose boat capsized in a river near Jerantut.
He said residents of Kg Bantal, Ulu Tembeling, had come to the aid of the three health workers and saved the overturned boat.
“This is the risk of every frontline health worker providing services to Malaysians in rural areas,” he said in an online posting this evening.
A video clip posted on his Facebook page showed villagers in two boats alongside the ministry craft helping to bale out water from the swamped vessel.
One villager is heard saying that “the boat driver and passengers are safe now as they had gone up the shore” and they were trying to save the boat’s engine from being damaged.
“We hope this instills the spirit of gotong-royong and friendship,” the man said.
Flood victims must obey Covid rules
In a separate health ministry statement, Noor Hisham said flood victims evacuated to relief centres in Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang should take care of their own health and follow Covid-19 health and hygiene protocols.
He said congestion at relief centres could increase the risk of transmission of diseases.
Noor Hisham said the Rantau Panjang clinic in Kelantan had also been affected by the floods and its services were now being performed at Gual Tinggi school.
He said 49 teams of medical and health personnel from the district health offices had been posted to relief centres to health screening and treatment services.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA