SG SIPUT – The Mara Liner mobile vaccination centre, which operates 10 hours a day, regardless of whether people have registered through Mysejahtera, has the capacity to vaccinate 800 people daily in rural areas.
Rural Development Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad said 17 Mara Liner express buses would be utilised as vaccine centres, and as a start, two buses were deployed at the Bawong Orang Asli One Stop Centre here today, where the recipients included 40 tok batin and 60 elderly Orang Asli citizens.
“Sg Siput was chosen as the first mobile centre location, in the ministry’s effort to make it easier for Orang Asli settlers in rural or remote areas to receive their vaccines,” he told reporters when met at the vaccination programme today.
Rahman said the mobile centres would be sent to Mersing, Johor and other Orang Asli settlements nationwide to ensure that the rural community, including the Orang Asli community, are not left behind in the national vaccination programme.
He said the programme was made possible with the cooperation of Mara Liner Sdn Bhd, the Orang Asli Development Department, Kuala Kangsar District Health Office, Sg Siput District Hospital, and several other government agencies.
“The ministry has been working to provide information on the benefits of getting the Covid-19 vaccine to the rural community, and to help those who face difficulties in travelling to the centres by bringing mobile centres to them,” he said.
Rahman said it is hoped that through the mobile centres, all 144,180 eligible Orang Asli settlers nationwide would be vaccinated as soon as possible to ensure the country achieves herd immunity before the end of this year.
Rahman said more Orang Asli are accepting and eager to get the vaccine because they want the pandemic to end and for life to get back to normal. – Bernama, June 26, 2021
