KUALA LUMPUR: The University of Malaya (UM) today said it did not instruct any of its volunteers to conduct any form of health screening of students from China, who recently returned for the new semester in the wake of Covid-19 infections.
In a statement today, UM said all health screenings at the 10th Residential College where the students were housed, were conducted by the university’s medical team using a centralised surveillance procedure.
“At the same time, a group of 14 student volunteers were at the residential college, to work on a different programme.
“However when the university decided to implement the centralised surveillance procedure, they (students) volunteered to help on a humanitarian basis,” said the statement.
The university added that the volunteers were given the responsibility to help with the registration process and hand over room keys to students who were screened.
The statement was issued following a local newspaper report published earlier today about a representative of UM volunteers, who expressed dissatisfaction over being asked to attend to the Feb 5 registration of returning students from China.
It had been further alleged that the volunteers had not been trained in handling the returning students, particularly in view of the coronavirus infections. — Bernama
