Sarawak Health Director Dr Chin Zin Hing speaking at an SDMC press conference on Covid-19 update in Kuching. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (May 21): State Health Department director Dr Chin Zin Hing has retired after serving the medical service in Sarawak for over 30 years.
When sharing about Dr Chin’s retirement on Facebook last night, Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian extended his appreciation to Dr Chin for his long service.
“Thank you very much to Dr Chin Zin Hing for over three decades of medical services to the people of Sarawak and various contributions to the medical development of Sarawak,” he said in the post.
Dr Sim said the state Health director had managed a gargantuan task given the fact that Sarawak’s land mass is around that of Peninsular Malaysia.
“In Sarawak, our one state medical director covers the area and job scope of 11 state medical directors of West Malaysia!
“This is why the standard norms in Malaysia are not applicable, unfair, and not acceptable to Sarawak,” said Dr Sim, who is State Disaster Management Committee advisor.
He added: “Truly perkhidmatan cemerlang (excellent service) Dr Chin. Happy retirement. Thank you very, very, very much.”
On Monday, Dr Chin had pleaded with Sarawakians to stay at home to stop the spread of Covid-19 as the intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the state’s public hospitals were full.
He said in a statement that Sarawak and Malaysia as a whole were now in crisis, adding that the state is now at a tipping point as the healthcare system is overwhelmed.
Yesterday, Sarawak’s new daily Covid-19 infections rose to 608 along with two fatalities.
This brought the state’s cumulative number of cases to 40,259 and the state’s death toll from Covid-19 to 293.