KUALA LUMPUR – The Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has denied media reports that general practitioners (GPs) have stopped participating in Klang Valley’s vaccination drive.
In a statement today, it said that any future involvement by private medical practitioners will be considered to ensure the continuity of the Covid-19 immunisation programme, seeing as no vaccination centres will be operating.
“Recently, Operation Surge Capacity was implemented from July 26 to August 1 to control the Covid-19 pandemic in the Klang Valley. GPs contributed around 5% of the total jabs given during this period.
“As of yesterday, around 107.7% of Klang Valley’s adult population have received at least one dose. This includes vaccines given to undocumented residents and non-residents.
“Following the completion of this operation, there was a need to reduce vaccination centres in the Klang Valley, and the involvement of GPs. As of today, 12 centres have been closed in the Klang Valley and from tomorrow to August 29, another 21 centres will be shut down,” said the statement.
It added that out of the 32 centres that have ended their operations, seven are public centres.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Medical Association issued a statement asking the relevant authorities why GPs in the Klang Valley and Selangor have been instructed to stop providing Covid-19 vaccination to the masses.
This resulted in Klang MP Charles Santiago raising the issue with Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on Twitter.
He received an almost immediate reply from Dr Noor Hisham who said that he and government-owned ProtectHealth Corporation (PH Corp) both supported the proposal to include GPs nationwide to help with Putrajaya’s vaccination drive.
However, when contacted later, he told The Vibes that the government has basically succeeded in vaccinating the Klang Valley’s population under Operation Surge Capacity.
“We have almost reached the vaccination target for the Klang Valley. Hence, we will be gradually scaling down and closing down some centres.
“The Health Ministry will do the mopping up with the GPs for future needs arising from the newly eligible vaccinees, new registrants, the 12-17 year-olds, and the third dose,” said Dr Noor Hisham in a brief WhatsApp message.
He added that PH Corp had through private medical practitioners performed an outstanding job in helping the Health Ministry achieve its target vaccination rates for Selangor and the Klang Valley.
The success was due to the implementation of different centres, the involvement of GPs and private hospitals, as well as the mega centres.
“Moving forward, the government will be gradually closing down the centres.” – The Vibes, August 22, 2021
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