Parliament to discuss efforts to eliminate stigma against former COVID-19 patients Thursday

KUALA LUMPUR: Efforts carried out by the Health Ministry (MOH) to eliminate the stigma against former COVID-19 patients, as well as the long-term impact of the stigma on the emotions of the individuals concerned will be discussed at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.

According to the Order of the Meeting on the official Parliament website, the matter will be raised in a question by Datuk Mohd Nizar Zakaria (BN-Parit) during the Ministers’ Question Time (MQT), scheduled to begin at 10 am.

There will also be a question from Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) to the Minister of Environment and Water on the cause of the flash floods in Seremban last Nov 4, which resulted in more than a thousand houses to be submerged in water, and on plans by the Drainage and Irrigation Department to avoid a similar incident.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar) will pose a question to Rural Development Minister on rural water and electricity supply projects, as well as rural road projects in Sabah.

He wanted to know the number and value of the projects concerned, as well as the project status and percentage of allocation that has been used so far.

The MQT question this time around will only require the Members of Parliament to read out the questions and the minister concerned will answer it in writing on the same day, with the questions and answers to be published in the Malaysian Parliament portal as soon as possible.

After the MQT session, the focus will shift to the Oral Question and Answer session, where the questions from today include from Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun (Bersatu-Beaufort) to Foreign Minister on Sabah’s status with regards to the issue on the Philippines’ claim over the state.

The debate on the Supply Bill 2021, regarding Budget 2021, will then continues for the fourth day.

The Parliament sitting for this week sits for only four hours, from 10 am to 2 pm daily from Monday to Thursday, with only 80 Members of Parliament - 41 from the government and 39 from the opposition and Independent - are allowed to be in the House at any one time.

It is a precautionary measure following the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the Parliament’s calendar, the third session of the Third Term of the 14th Parliament is for 27 days until Dec 15.

-- BERNAMA