In between his busy schedule, the doctor managed to make time to perform surgery, then rush to his daily Covid-19 briefings.
Mention Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and most Malaysians would know him as the man behind the daily Covid-19 updates.
The health director-general has become a popular face since the start of the pandemic and has been a source of motivation and inspiration to our medical frontliners.
However, one thing not many knew was that he still managed to squeeze his medical duties into these busy daily routines.
Taking to Facebook today, Dr Noor Hisham wrote about how he actually took some time off to perform surgery on a patient before rushing to his daily Covid-19 briefings.
He performed a thyroidectomy surgery which involves the surgical removal of all or part of the thyroid gland.
“This morning I managed to squeeze in some time to perform a thyroidectomy for a patient diagnosed with right dominant multinodular goiter.
“It was refreshing to be in the operating room again to calm my “withdrawal symptoms” and meet all my Operation Theatre (OT) staff.
“I was also briefed on the workflow and standard operating procedure (SOP) for Covid-19 positive patients that have to undergo surgery,” he posted.
Speaking about the pandemic, Dr Noor Hisham said in the midst of the Covid-19, Malaysians have become united and worked together to make it through these tough times.
He also praised the frontliners for demonstrating good values to the people.
“As the pandemic crisis unfolds, it has taught us many valuable lessons of unity and solidarity.
“Each day brings new lessons and challenges for us to prepare for the worse, and I am amazed by the ingenuity, strength and creativity being demonstrated by our frontline workers.
“The onus is on us to take all precautionary measures and maintain good personal hygiene,” he added.
He said the country was now in recovery phase and the real challenge was for the people to comply with the SOPs.
“The people can make the impossible possible as there is now hope and light at the end of the tunnel to end the Covid-19 transmission,” he said.
He also posted photographs of him and the OT staff in the operation room.
In less than an hour after his Facebook post was uploaded, it had garnered 1,200 comments and 1,100 shares, along with 34,000 reactions from Facebook users, proving his popularity among Malaysians.