Noor Hisham Abdullah
Noor Hisham bin Abdullah (born Yew Ming Seong; 21 April 1963) is a Malaysian civil servant and endocrine surgeon who served as the Director-General of Health from March 2013 to his retirement in April 2023. Prior to his appointment as the Director-General, he served as the Deputy Director General of Health (Medical) from February 2008 to March 2013.[1]
In this Chinese name, the family name is Yew.
Noor Hisham Abdullah
Abdul Halim
(2013–2016)
Muhammad V
(2016–2019)
Abdullah
(2019–2023)
Najib Razak
(2013–2018)
Mahathir Mohamad
(2018–2020)
Muhyiddin Yassin
(2020–2021)
Ismail Sabri Yaakob
(2021–2022)
Anwar Ibrahim
(2022–2023)
Liow Tiong Lai
(2013)
Subramaniam Sathasivam
(2013–2018)
Dzulkefly Ahmad
(2018–2020)
Adham Baba
(2020–2021)
Khairy Jamaluddin
(2021–2022)
Zaliha Mustafa
(2022–2023)
Hasan Abdul Rahman
Mizan Zainal Abidin
(2008–2011)
Abdul Halim
(2011–2013)
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
(2008–2009)
Najib Razak
(2009–2013)
Ong Ka Ting
(Acting) (2008)
Liow Tiong Lai
(2008–2013)
Hasan Abdul Rahman
Nik Suwaida Nik Mohammad Mohyideen
6
One of the most prominent leaders in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
Noor Hisham is also the current Chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (SCHEPPR),[2] President of Malaysia Medical Council (MMC),[3] as well as member of the Board of Directors of the Drug for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi).[4] In his role, he has been prominent in leading Malaysia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]
Early life and education[edit]
Born as Yew Ming Seong (姚明祥) on 21 April 1963 in Sepang, Selangor to a poor Chinese family of Fuzhou people descent,[6] he spent his childhood in a kampung at Sungai Pelek.[7] He was raised by his single mother after his parents separated since birth and had lived in the off Jalan Loke Yew's San Peng Flats, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.[8][9] As a young school boy, he would walk with his younger sibling to the Methodist Boys' School (MBS) in Jalan Davidson where he acquired his early education.[10]
Forced by his family's poor condition, Yew was then adopted by an Ustaz who was the principal of the Kolej Islam Klang (KIK) where he continued his upper secondary studies before continuing his pre-university education at Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah (SAS), Cheras.[11] Later he married his adoptive father's biological daughter; at about that time, he changed his name to Noor Hisham Abdullah.[6]
Yew also had obtained a medical doctorate degree in 1988 and a Master in Surgery in 1994, both from National University of Malaysia (UKM).[12] He went on to specialise in endocrine surgery and did his training in various universities in Adelaide and Sydney, Australia.[8][13]
Medical career[edit]
Medical practice (1988–2023)[edit]
Dr. Noor Hisham started his medical career as a houseman at the Kuala Lumpur University Hospital in 1988, and later specialising in the Accident and Emergency Department in 1989.
After he received his Master of Surgery, he became a general surgeon in Hospital Terengganu in 1994. After 3 years as a general surgeon, Dr Noor Hisham received an endocrinology fellowship training at various institutes in Australia.
After completing his fellowship training, Dr. Noor Hisham was appointed as the Head of the Breast and Endocrine Surgery Unit at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital in 1999. Three years later, in 2002, he took on the role of Head and Senior Consultant of Breast and Endocrine Surgery at Putrajaya Hospital, a position that he currently holds.
Noor Hisham has received the Excellent Service Award (2000), Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) and Excellent Service Award (2004), Federal Territories Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Health Department (JKWPKL) for the recognition of his service in a medical career.[1][14]
Director-General of Health (2013–2023)[edit]
Noor Hisham served as the Deputy Director-General of Health (Medical) for 5 years from February 2008 before being promoted and prior to serving as the Director-General of Health in March 2013.[15]
Controversies and issues[edit]
Controversial political tweets and posts[edit]
In 2018, Noor Hisham was criticised for his politically inclined retweets. These tweets were viewed as pro-Barisan Nasional, who were the then-ruling coalition during the 2018 general election (GE14) campaign. One of his retweets was a message by former Prime Minister Najib Razak's, containing a photo announcing the ceremony of the Hospital Kajang women and children's complex with a verse of his hopes for BN's return to the state power of Selangor. Prior to that, Noor Hisham had also retweeted another message from Najib that showed a picture of Najib on a visit to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, sending that BN would implement more for mothers and children if it continues to be given the mandate.[39]
Noor Farida Ariffin, a spokesperson for G25 (a group of eminent ex-civil servants of Malaysia), stated that Noor Hisham was abusing his position as public servants were not supposed to campaign for any political party. A founding member of G25 and former Treasury secretary-general, Mohd Sheriff Kassim said that the Ministry of Health should lodge a complaint against Noor Hisham to the Election Commission (EC).[39]
The electoral reform group, Bersih 2.0, also gave criticism to Noor Hisham by stating that he was in breach of public service regulations. He was named in Bersih's 'Hall Of Shame' alongside Najib. Bersih has stated that they were appalled that the Ministry of Health allowed its Facebook page to promote BN's manifesto during the GE14 campaign.[40]
SOP breach allegation[edit]
On March 21, 2021, photos of Noor Hisham were circulated online showing him going against the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the ongoing conditional MCO. The photos display Noor Hisham and other family members standing closely without any face masks for a photo-op during a wedding reception of his daughter, Khairin Afiqah. As a result, Noor Hisham has been criticised online for not setting a good example to the public.[41][42]
Ineffective health DG claims[edit]
In July 2021, the former health DG Tan Sri Dr Mohamed Ismail Merican rebuked Noor Hisham as a "toothless tiger" for not being effective in leading the nation's COVID-19 pandemic management by failing to be firm with decisions, as well as being pressured by politicians.[43] Dr Mohamed Ismail, who was the former position holder in charge of the 2003 SARS outbreak, opined that if politicians tried to interfere, they would be told to stay calm and stop meddling.[44]
Personal life[edit]
Noor Hisham is married to Nik Suwaida Nik Mohyideen and has six children; four sons and two daughters. He also has a son from a previous marriage. [45][25]
Noor Hisham having a lanky physique is an avid sportsman since his younger days.[8] He was a school athlete, played football during university days and enjoys scuba diving including underwater photography.[10] His hidden singing talent was revealed after an old video clip of him rendering the Shanghai Beach or Seung Hoi Tan (上海灘), a famous 1980s Cantopop song, resurfaced on social media.[46][47] He is also known as a multilingual, being able to communicate fluently in English, Malay, several Chinese regional languages, including his native Foochow colloquial, and even a little Tamil.[6][10]
