Costam wants involvement of more private clinics to assist in Covid-19 vaccination

A health worker administers a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. — Bernama file photo

KUCHING (May 31): The Confederation of Scientific and Technological Association in Malaysia (Costam) has called for the involvement of more private clinics in the country to assist in the Covid-19 vaccination.

Costam president Prof Dr Ruslan Hassan said this is necessary as the vaccination exercise to overcome the pandemic is in need of more helping hands.

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) European director mentioned about the threshold of 70 per cent of the population has to be vaccinated to be safe.

“It means for Malaysia, 21 million (people) have to be vaccinated. We need all the help we can because public health is at stake,” he said in a press statement yesterday.

National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s recently announced that the government aims to have 500 general practitioner (GP) clinics administering vaccines by June 15 and that the number of clinics designated as vaccination centres will increase to 1,000 by June 30

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Prof Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy in a statement expressed his hope that the target of 5,000 participating GPs can be achieved in the next two months.

Although there are a total 8,000 GPs in the country, he believed that an additional 150,000 vaccinations per day could be carried out with just 5,000 private GPs on board.

As of current, he said only 184 of the 2,500 GPs have begun administering the vaccines.

“We are at a critical stage in the pandemic. Resources need to be optimised and unnecessary red tape should be removed,” he added.

On the announcement made by Khairy, Dr Ruslan said the same go-ahead announcement was previously made by the Minister of Health, but the clinics had to be audited at the state level.

This, he added, would add further delay on the vaccination efforts.

“This has been resolved apparently since we believe professionals are competent and ethical. They have been practicing all kinds of vaccination and who in their right minds would offer their willingness to bear all costs involved namely logistics, IT, storage facility and follow-ups if they are not ready, ethical and responsible.

“Furthermore, the fact that they are established practitioners are more than enough evidence of professionalism. They are already regulated by their professional bodies who are always upholding the safety, health and welfare of the public.

“However, if need be, Costam would ever be willing to provide the necessary support and a helping hand to achieve the 70 percent milestone and beyond in the immediate future,” he said.

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