KUALA LUMPUR – Calling the current threat of Covid-19 in Malaysia “apocalyptic”, the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia today warned that speedy mass vaccination is critically needed as people are “dying like flies”.
It said that there is no need for the Private Medical Practice Control Section, under the Health Ministry (MoH) to inspect and approve private clinics for vaccination as they are already registered under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (PHFSA).
The federation’s president Dr Steven KW Chow said patients should be allowed to get vaccination from a doctor nearest to their homes in view of complaints from elderly sick patients who are being assigned to get vaccination far from their homes.
“We urge the government to do the needful immediately as it is already very late,” he said in a statement today.
It is time for our ministers to wake up to the unfolding disaster of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
“The present process of getting your vaccine is frustratingly slow and is a disincentive for successful roll-out,” he said.
Dr Chow said that there are two ways to tackle the situation: simplify the vaccination process, and speed it up.
“We support the call of our other medical NGOs to do away with this cumbersome system. It is the bottleneck that is holding us back.
“Speed is the key to overcome the spread of the virus. We need to have more centres for the population to get their vaccine including all klinik kesihatan (public clinics), all hospitals and all GP (general practitioners’) clinics.
“We don’t need ‘supersport-style’ vaccine centres. This is not a supersport,” he added.
“The 7,000 GPs and the thousands of klinik kesihatan can easily vaccinate up to 50 patients daily, and together with the private hospitals achieve critical mass in a very short time.”
He said the government can efficiently deliver the vaccines to these parties with the help of pharmaceutical distributors who have the capability and the capacity to do so.
Allow vaccinations while auditing: MMA
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) suggested that private clinics be allowed to administer vaccines while they are being audited by the state health departments.
MMA honorary secretary-general Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo cautioned that the process to audit private clinics will cause a delay in the country’s bid to reach herd immunity.
He proposed that private clinics that have registered to administer the vaccines be allowed to carry out the inoculation process while being audited by the health departments.
Dr Thirunavukarasu said this in a letter addressed to Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Health Department director Datuk Dr Param Jeeth Singh dated May 22, which has been sighted by The Vibes.
The letter comes after an announcement earlier this month that ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd (PHCorp) would be the MoH-appointed implementer of private medical practitioner participation in the national Covid-19 immunisation programme.
However, private clinics that want to administer vaccines have to be audited by health departments before being allowed to do so.
Dr Thirunavukarasu stated that private clinics have experience in administering vaccines as they supply different types of vaccines for other diseases.
As of now, over 2,500 private healthcare practitioners have registered to join the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
In KL, over 350 clinics have registered and at least 100 have undergone training over the phone for three hours with PHCorp.
Do away with cumbersome systems
Dr Chow said that it is not necessary to have a digitalised system that is not able to integrate as needed.
“We don’t need apps that do not talk to one another. We need people to go to their doctors and have their jabs on the spot,” he said.
He cited examples of the United Kingdom and United States not having computerised systems for the purpose; people there are just given a card after vaccination and the method has succeeded.
“The actual number of daily new cases is clearly way above the confirmed 7,000 plus per day. It is an accepted fact that for every confirmed case, there would be three to 10 undetected cases in the community,” he said.
“So, let’s face it. We are dealing with tens of thousands of new infections daily. This is a war of big numbers, and we cannot win this with picking finger-pricking fire-fighting measures.
“Deaths from Covid-19 have skyrocketed. The scene is apocalyptic, yet, we have ministers mulling out ideas of super vaccine centres, mobile vaccine trucks (for urbanised KL, where there is a clinic in virtually every corner) and more prickly apps and platforms that do not work when needed,” he said.
As of late afternoon today, a total of 2.7 million vaccine doses have been administered throughout the country.
1.7 million Malaysians have received their first doses and 987,012 have received their second doses.
Malaysia today also recorded 8,290 new daily cases, taking the cumulative tally of infections since the pandemic began to 549,514.
Sixty-one fatalities to the virus were also recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 2,552. – The Vibes, May 28, 2021
