Noor Hisham Abdullah

Dato' Seri Dr. Noor Hisham bin Abdullah (né Yew Ming Seong; born 21 April 1963) is a Malaysia endocrine surgeon who has served as the Director-General of Health since March 2013. He is widely known for playing an outstanding and prominent role in leading Malaysia to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yew.
In this Malay name, the name Abdullah is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Noor Hisham.
Yang Berbahagia Dato' Seri Dr.

Noor Hisham Abdullah

SSAP SPMP DMPN DPMP PJN KMN
Director-General of Health
Assumed office
1 March 2013
MonarchAbdul Halim
(2013–2016)
Muhammad V (2016–2019)
Abdullah
(since 2019)
Prime MinisterNajib Razak
(2013–2018)
Mahathir Mohamad (2018–2020)
Muhyiddin Yassin (since 2020)
MinisterLiow Tiong Lai (2013)
Subramaniam Sathasivam
(2013–2018)
Dzulkefly Ahmad (2018–2020)
Adham Baba
(since 2020)
Preceded byHasan Abdul Rahman
Personal details
Born
Yew Ming Seong[1]

(1963-04-21) 21 April 1963
Sepang, Selangor, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)[2]
CitizenshipMalaysian
NationalityMalaysian
Spouse(s)Nik Suwaida Nik Mohammad Mohyideen
EducationMethodist Boys' School
Alma materNational University of Malaysia
ProfessionEndocrine surgeon
Known forCaptain leading Malaysia to battle with the COVID-19 pandemic

Early life and education

Born as Yew Ming Seong on 21 April 1963 in Sepang, Selangor to a poor Chinese family of Fuzhou descent,[1][4] he spent his childhood in a 'Fuzhou' kampung at Sungai Pelek.[4] He was raised by his single mother and had lived in the San Peng flats, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur where he acquired his early education at the Methodist Boys' School (MBS). As a young school boy, he would walk to the school in Jalan Davidson with his younger brother.

Forced by his family poor condition, Yew was then adopted by an Ustaz and principal at Kolej Islam Klang (KIK) where he continued his upper secondary studies before continuing his pre-university education at Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah (SAS), Cheras.[5] Later on in life, he married his adoptive father's biological daughter and that's about when he changed his name to Noor Hisham Abdullah.[1]

Yew also had obtained a medical doctorate degree in 1988 and a Master in Surgery in 1994, both from National University of Malaysia (UKM).[3] He went on to specialise in endocrine surgery and did his training in various universities in Adelaide and Sydney, Australia.[6]

Career

Dr. Noor Hisham started his medical doctor 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 had gotten his Master in 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 1998. 4 years later in 2002, he took on the role of Head and Senior Consultant of Breast and Endocrine Surgery at Hospital Putrajaya, a position that he has held until today.

In 2008, he was appointed as the Deputy Director-General of Health and later as Director-General of Health in 2013.[7]

As Health Director-General

Controversial political tweets

In 2018, Dr. Noor Hisham was criticised for his political inclined retweets which were viewed as pro-Barisan Nasional, the then-ruling government coalition, during the Malaysian 14th general election (GE14) campaign. His retweet was a message by former prime minister Najib Razak's original tweet that showed a photo announcing the ground-breaking ceremony of the Hospital Kajang women’s and children’s complex in which it contained a verse of his hopes of Barisan Nasional winning back control of Selangor. Prior to that, he had also retweeted another message from Najib that showed a picture of Najib on a visit to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital with mothers and their new babies, in which Dr Noor Hisham also said that Barisan Nasional would implement more for mothers and children if it continues to be given the mandate.[8]

G25, a group of eminent ex-civil servants of Malaysia spokesperson, Noor Farida Ariffin said that Dr 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 the Ministry of Health should lodge a complaint against Dr Noor Hisham to the Election Commission) (EC.[8]

The electoral reform group, Bersih 2.0 also criticised Dr Noor Hisham by saying that he was in breach of public service regulations. He was named in Bersih's 'Hall Of Shame' together with Najib. Bersih also said that they were appalled that the Ministry of Health allows its Facebook page to promote Barisan Nasional’s manifesto during GE14 campaign.[9]

Role during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia

Dr. Noor Hisham is the director-general in charge during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. In April 2020, he joined an international coalition dedicated to clinical research involving COVID-19.[10] The China Global TV Network (CGTN), had recognised Dr Noor Hisham as among the “top doctors” of the world for his approach in handling the pandemic.[6][11]

Awards

References
  1. "Did You Know about the Life of: Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah". Malaysian Youth Community (MYC). 21 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  2. "Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan" [Health Director-General]. Ministry of Health (Malaysia) (in Malay). Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  3. "Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah – DNDi". www.dndi.org. 11 November 2013. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  4. "生于雪邦华裔家庭 · 诺希山从小立志当医生" [Born in a Chinese family, Noor Hisham wishes to become a doctor since early childhood]. Sin Chew Daily (in Chinese). 29 March 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  5. Nor Ashaha, Nurul Riduan (5 April 2020). "Manusia paling popular di Malaysia" [The most popular man in Malaysia]. Sinar Harian (in Malay). Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. "Dr Noor Hisham – the man of the hour". The Star. 18 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  7. "Who is Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the man now lauded as a "national hero"". Cilisos.my. 5 April 2020. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  8. Michael Murty (20 April 2018). "Health chief under fire for 'disgraceful' pro-BN retweets". Free Malaysia Today. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  9. "Najib named in Bersih's 'Hall of Shame'". Malaysiakini. 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  10. "Noor Hisham terpilih sertai saintis dunia lakukan kajian perangi COVID-19" [Noor Hisham chosen to join scientists on researches to combat COVID-19]. Astro Awani (in Malay). 3 April 2020. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  11. "China's CGTN names Dr Noor Hisham one of world's top doctors". The Star. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  12. "Yang Di-Pertuan Agong's birthday honours list". The Star. 2 June 2007. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  13. "Pandikar Amin Dahului Senarai Penerima Darjah Kebesaran TYT Pulau Pinang" [Pandikar Amin leads list of order recipients from His Excellency Governor of Pulau Pinang]. Bernama (in Malay). 26 August 2013. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020 – via mStar.
  14. "199 Individu Terima Darjah Kebesaran Pahang" [199 individuals received Pahang's orders]. Bernama (in Malay). 5 April 2014. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020 – via mStar.
  15. "Juanda antara 207 penerima pingat Perlis" [Juanda as one of 207 recipients of Perlis's medals]. Malaysiakini (in Malay). 17 May 2013. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  16. "Sultan of Johor heads Perlis' honours list" (PDF). Borneo Post. 17 May 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
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