The Health and Sciences COVID-19 Advisory Group of Experts (EAG) was established on February 8, 2021 to provide evidence-based advice on COVID-19 management in Malaysia.

We disagree with recent comments stating that the EAG should "take over" pandemic response leadership at the Ministry of Health (MOH).

MOH has been at the center of the struggle during this extremely challenging period.

The EAG serves to complement MOH's pandemic strategy-setting and support public health best practices that will allow Malaysia to exit the pandemic as quickly as possible.

To these aims, we have been meeting with MOH leaders since our formation and will continue to collaborate closely with all relevant stakeholders to derive immediate as well as medium-to-long-term plans for managing COVID-19 in Malaysia.

On top of the six undersigned members, the EAG is ably supported by a network of critical Technical Working Groups (TWG) comprising of medical, healthcare and industry experts who can be consulted on an ad hoc basis. There are seven TWGs, namely: 

a. Public-private partnership (Hospital-based care)

b. Public-private partnership (Primary care providers)

c. Public health (Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support System) 

d. Data and technology

e. Vaccines

f. Strategic Communications

g. COVID-19 Frontliners and Healthcare Worker Welfare

With this network of support, we hope to inspire a true, coordinated whole-of-society effort for beating COVID-19.

As the pandemic continues to rage on at an alarming rate, we must stay focused on the shared goal of saving lives and livelihoods.

Members of the Health and Sciences COVID-19 Advisory Group of Experts:

1. Tan Sri Dato' Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman, Chairman

2. Professor Dr Rosmawati Mohamed, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia

3. Dr Mary Cardosa, Malaysian Medical Association

4. Dato' Dr Fadzilah Kamaludin, Malaysian Public Health Physicians' Association

5. Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh, Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia

6. Datuk Dr Christopher Lee, Malaysian Society of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases