Doctors Group Wants Simplified Vaccination Process Via Clinics

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The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners' Associations (FPMPAM) has urged the government to expedite Covid-19 vaccinations by simplifying the process to do so.

Among others, its president Dr Steven Chow Kim Weng said the government should roll out the vaccine through private general practitioners (GPs) and government health clinics nationwide, rather than focusing on a handful of large vaccine administration centres (PPV).
He also said there is no need for a computerised system that does not function properly, and that the present system is too cumbersome and actually discourages people from getting vaccinated.

“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.

“The UK or the US does not have a computerised system. The (UK) National Health Service rolled it out to all their GPs. They just give a card after vaccination and they have done it and succeeded.

“We don’t need a canggih (sophisticated) system that does not work. Technology is supposed to help and not be a hindrance.

“The 7,000 GPs and thousands of (government) health clinics each can easily vaccinate 50 patients daily, and together with the private hospitals achieve critical mass in a very short time.

“All the government needs to do is to deliver efficiently the vaccine to all of them. This can be done by existing pharmaceutical distributors who have the capability and the capacity to do so,” he said in a statement today.

Chow added that doctors have received complaints from sick elderly patients that they are being assigned to PPVs far from their homes and face long hours travelling to the vaccination centre and back.

The overcrowding and long wait at large PPVs also provides opportunities for Covid-19 super-spreading events, he said.

“This is not fair, not correct, and not cost-efficient. It is a sign of a broken system.

“Patients should be allowed to see the doctor nearest to their home, get assessed, vaccinated, and then have the information immediately updated into their MySejahtera. It can be as simple as that.

“We urge the government to do the needful immediately as it is already very late,” he said.

Chow said mass vaccination of vulnerable segments of the population is the only way forward, and it is imperative to do this in the shortest time possible.

Despite official figures, Chow said Malaysia is likely facing tens of thousands of Covid-19 infections each day.

“It is an accepted fact that for every confirmed case, there would be three to 10 undetected cases in the community.

“So let’s face it. We are dealing with tens of thousands of new infectious daily. This is a war of big numbers and we cannot win this with finger-pricking fire-fighting measures,” he said.

Malaysia has recorded over 7,000 Covid-19 cases per day over the last three days. A new milestone has been reached today with 8,290 cases recorded, the first time the daily figure exceeded 8,000.
Currently, around six percent of all Covid-19 tests in Malaysia return a positive result. - Mkini

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