Four years ago, Twentytwo13 highlighted that vehicles were parked on both sides of the main road for at least a kilometre near Hospital Serdang.
That was despite the alternative parking bays at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), complete with shuttle services.
In March, then Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin experienced this first-hand when he visited the hospital for the national-level World Hearing Day celebrations. Khairy promised to look into the matter.
That, sadly, is what regular “visitors” to government hospitals have to put up with each time they go there.
These days, parking at Hospital Serdang stretches closer to two kilometres. It is normal to see parents carrying their kids or pushing them in prams along the road.
Khairy had said there was a proposal to build a multi-level car park in Hospital Serdang, but he lost in the Sungai Buloh parliamentary race in the recent 15th General Election, and could not follow up on it.
Perhaps this is something the new Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa could look into, as it would benefit those visiting hospitals.
Operating a car park could also bring in some income to offset some of the hospitals’ costs.
Of course, Dr Zaliha, Malaysia’s first female Health Minister, already has plenty on her plate as the number of daily Covid-19 cases are still in the thousands, and is expected to rise during the upcoming school holidays, Christmas, and New Year celebrations.
Dr Zaliha, once the political secretary to former Women, Family and Community Development minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, needs to send a clear message that we cannot let our guard down.
Too many people have a ‘tidak apa’ (apathy) attitude due to the high vaccination rate in the country and after two years of being Covid-cautious.
For the record, cases continue to climb despite at least 86.1 per cent of the population having received one dose of the vaccine, and 84.3 per cent having received both shots.
However, only 49.8 per cent have received booster jabs, and a mere 1.8 per cent of the population have received two booster injections.
There is still plenty of fake news surrounding the vaccine, such as that it causes cancer and other serious diseases.
It could get worse, as billionaire industrialist and Twitter owner Elon Musk is considering lifting the ban on Covid-19 disinformation on Twitter. During the pandemic, more than 11,000 accounts and 100,000 pieces of content were removed.
There is still some fear over vaccines in Malaysia. Hopefully, Dr Zaliha and her team can help fight the fake news. Oh, and look into parking solutions!
Separately, this is the 131st weekly edition of the Diary. It started as a daily column from March 18 to June 9, 2020. The first weekly edition was four days later.
On Monday, it would be 1,000 days since we had our first Movement Control Order.
FIVE MILLION AND COUNTING
Covid-19 cases in Malaysia surged beyond five million on Sunday when 1,502 new infections brought the total to 5,000,332.
In the past week, we had 11,488 new cases. That brought the total to 5,008,452.
The good news is that 15,029 patients beat the coronavirus, meaning that recoveries now stand at 4,951,236, as of yesterday.
Sadly, there were another 44 deaths, which brought the total to 36,748.
Worldwide, there are 653,031,475 cases and 6,657,268 fatalities.
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS COMING TO AN END?
After 17 days of action, the FIFA World Cup had a two-day break before the quarterfinals resumed last night and this morning.
There is one more week left before the finale next Sunday. Is your favourite team still in it?
Whatever it is, Malaysians will be able to get some much-needed sleep … but only for a couple of days as English clubs – unlike their European counterparts – will resume playing soon after the World Cup final.
GOBLIN MODE
Spider-Man fans may know of the Green Goblin, but in the real world, ‘Goblin Mode’ is the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year.
Oxford University Press explained that the slang phrase refers to someone who is “unapologetically self-indulgent, indolent, slovenly, or greedy, generally in a way that contradicts social norms or expectations”.
It added that those are characteristics that many people may have grown accustomed to during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
MULLED TEA PUNCH
With Christmas around the corner, try this non-alcoholic mulled tea punch for something different.
I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS
The countdown to Christmas begins with John Prine’s version of a classic.
Until next week, stay safe.
