KUALA LUMPUR – Former health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has accepted her re-designation as minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), promising to do her best.
“This trust given by the prime minister, I will carry with full honesty and responsibility,” she said in a statement.
“(This is) in line with the unity and Madani government’s aspiration in structuring efforts to develop and prosper the Federal Territories through aspects of social and economic development of the community.”
Zaliha, from PKR, was removed as health minister and replaced by Amanah’s Kuala Selangor MP, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who was formerly health minister from 2018 to 2020.
Zaliha also thanked all the staff at the Health Ministry for the support they have given her throughout her one-year tenure.
The first-time MP for the Sekijang constituency had been on the receiving end of numerous criticisms during her one year as health minister, including over the issue of permanent contracts for contractual doctors.
She also came under fire for allowing the removal of nicotine from the list of scheduled poisons for taxation purposes, but without any laws in place to regulate its use.
Her last controversy was the exclusion of the Generational Endgame provision from the revised Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, on grounds that the attorney-general (AG) had warned that the provision was unconstitutional, a point disputed by her predecessor at the Health Ministry, Khairy Jamaluddin, who said the AG during his tenure had never raised such concerns. – December 12, 2023