LETTER | Covid-19 - pride and prejudice or start to do the right thing?

LETTER | We have been seeing the trends of the Covid-19 cases become erratic in the past two weeks. Just yesterday, the cases soared to 277 with 271 of them being foreigners. The question to now ask is, are we barking up the right tree here? 

The Ministry of Health has tirelessly worked, warned and upgraded the healthcare and public health systems accordingly to combat Covid-19 but there yet remains another awful subject that is yet to be addressed - have we educated our foreign workers enough?

Please take a look at the picture below that I clearly remember seeing every day as I made my way to the NHS Royal Yorkhill Children’s Hospital in Glasgow.

 It is a sign that says "Hello" in many languages. This is a page that we must take from the NHS book. Yes, indeed our colonial masters might have been cruel and insensitive, but they have changed their ways ever since - being accommodative of the healthcare of all by ensuring the comfort of communicating in their native language (they had in-house translators then). 

What does this have to do with the way Covid-19 is managed in Malaysia? Well, having to communicate any medical-related issue in one’s own native language might help in better understanding and for the message to get across. With the current surge of cases among foreigners, perhaps it is time that the Ministry of Health considers posting messages in the common languages used by our foreign workers (Bangladeshi, Nepali, Indonesian (dialect), Burmese, Cambodian, and Vietnamese to name a few) so that they, too, are given the benefit of education for preventive measures. 

Yes, they might live in congested environments but perhaps knowing that they shouldn’t be in those environments might help them to voice their concerns to their employers or the authorities. Has anyone assessed our foreign workers and see if they understand what social distancing is? I do not think so. 

At the moment, the messages are only clear for those who are fluent in and able to comprehend English and Bahasa Melayu.

To just share what the current trends of foreign workers is to Malaysians in local cases, you might want to take a look at the two tabulated graphs below. I strongly urge the Ministry of Health and those relevant ministries to please consider following the NHS example and provide information to foreign workers in their native language. 

Yes, many might not be able to read but those who can will at least spread the message to their countrymen. It is not the question of pride or prejudice anymore.

 It is to do what is right and what might work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.