LETTERS: The Covid-19 pandemic is a major global crisis, requiring cooperation between the public and private sectors as the government alone cannot deliver all the services that are necessary to address the pandemic.
These partnerships are particularly important when the government needs innovative answers to a rapidly changing landscape.
The United Nations Children's Fund has issued a call for enhanced cooperation between the public and private sectors to strengthen the response to Covid-19. Therefore, public services must be just as speedy and efficient like in the private sector for the comfort of the people.
It is also possible to accomplish this partnership in three different sectors — health, tourism and education.
In the health sector, public hospitals are overcrowded, medical resources are scarce and frontliners are working tirelessly to support the country's efforts to combat the pandemic.
Due to the rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases and the near-full capacity of public hospitals, the government has had to reach out to the private sector for assistance in managing the pandemic.
While public hospitals have low fees because they are heavily subsidised by the government, private hospitals charge full fees that can be up to 10 times higher.
With the travel restrictions during the pandemic, the bed occupancy rate at private hospitals was very low and facilities were underutilised.
The travel restrictions have affected private hospitals severely as they normally cater to medical tourists.
The government policy of transferring certain patients to private hospitals should be regarded as a privilege for private hospitals. Hence, private hospitals should consider reducing their medical fees.
Cooperation between the public and private sectors is crucial for driving the Malaysian economy, especially in the tourism investment sector.
The development of the tourism industry based on digital technology is also critical to achieving the National Tourism Policy 2020-2030 objectives.
Unique tourism products must be promoted digitally as the platform can have a large impact on foreign tourists, particularly after borders are reopened.
The government should also increase the cooperation between public and private universities in research. The country's National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy is geared towards encouraging the development and application of technology to raise Malaysia's standard of living and achieve a high-technology nation.
To meet those efforts, more full-time research is required. Before this, academics had a time burden, where they had to spend a significant amount of time in different roles, including as researcher, teacher and administrator.
To accelerate the advancement of Covid-19 research, full-time work is required. The government can invite some of the world's leading experts to government-sponsored think tanks and expedite government-focused work in Covid-19 research.
Mohd Rozaimy Ridzuan
Universiti Teknologi Mara, Pahang branch, Raub campus
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times