Health DG Noor Hisham To Retire 21 April

Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah will step down as the Health director-general after helming the role for 10 years.

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Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah will retire as the Health director-general on 21 April after 35 years in government service, Malay Mail reported.

Dr Noor Hisham is most recognised for heading the health sector’s fight against Covid-19 as he gave daily updates on the number of infections during the early days of the pandemic.

He’ll be retiring on 21 April as he turns 60 on that day, which is a compulsory retirement age for civil servants.

In a Facebook post dated 7 April, the Food Safety and Quality Division under the Health Ministry wrote that Dr Noor Hisham chaired the last Malaysian Food Analyst Council meeting.

The father of six children told The Star that he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family upon retirement.

Retirement is the next chapter of life. It’s a life journey. I will cross one bridge at a time.
Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham

On 10 April, Dr Noor Hisham announced the launch of the final edition of The Covid-19 Chronicles of Malaysia.

The publication chronicles the timeline of public health strategies in addressing the pandemic between 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Dr Noor Hisham’s contributions to Malaysia’s public health sector

Dr Noor Hisham started working as a medical officer in 1988 after graduating with a Masters in Surgery and a Doctorate of Medicine from University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

Additionally, he attended the Advanced Management Programme at Oxford Business School in the UK in 2008.

He held the Health director-general portfolio since 2013. Prior to this, he was the deputy director-general of Health (medical) between January 2008 and February 2013.

Over the decade, he has worked with five Health Ministers namely:

Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam Sathasivam (2013 – 2018)
Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (2018 – 2020)
Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba (2020 – 2021)
Khairy Jamaluddin (2021 – 2022)
Dr Zaliha Mustafa (2022 – present)

In 2022, he was appointed to chair the World Health Organisation Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (SCHEPPR).

For his straightforward approach in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, he was named one of the world’s top three doctors by the Chinese news network China Global TV Network (CGTN).

Aside from his work in the public health sector, he is also a surgeon specialising in breast and endocrine surgery.

He managed to perform a thyroidectomy surgery on a patient in June 2020 despite his busy schedule as the Health director-general.