PETALING JAYA: Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah took to social media to express his sadness over the death of a senior colleague who passed away recently.

       "It's sad when our own colleagues succumb to something we have been fighting against together for the last 20 months," he said in a Facebook post on Friday (Aug 20).

       Dr Noor Hisham paid tribute to the Health Ministry's Hospital Management Services Unit's public health medicine specialist Dr Nirmala Subramaniam, who is believed to have passed away due to the Covid-19.

       He added that he would remember Dr Nirmala as a pleasant and very obliging person.

       "My deepest condolences to her family and Unit Perkhidmatan Pengurusan Hospital, Program Perubatan KKM," he said in his post, which included a photograph of Dr Nirmala at a recent meeting.

       Dr Noor Hisham's post has since garnered over 1,200 views with many Malaysians extending their condolences.

       "We can never repay these frontliners who fight so very hard for all of us," Vincent Lim said.

       Jeeve Kumari said that Dr Nirmala's death was an example for everyone to remain cautious as the nation's economy gradually reopens.