700,000 rush for health app to get RM50 e-wallet credit

Many people have complained that the MySejahtera app is unusable and keeps crashing. The government has offered a RM50 e-wallet credit for those who register on the app. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: A government offer of a RM50 e-wallet credit resulted in 700,000 registration attempts recorded in a minute for the MySejahtera mobile app, said health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“The public should also practice social distancing when online,” he quipped.

“If we can practice social distancing, then there will be no congestion here … if everyone registers at the same time within a minute, there is bound for something to happen (congestion) which will hinder us from getting registered.”

The heavy load of simultaneous registrations has caused the app to crash, according to users who posted their reactions at the Google Play Store.

One user said: “The app is not working properly. I managed to register and log in the first time. Now the app is just stuck at this ‘check-in’ page.”

A user named CM Tan said: “Can register already, but cannot login, always show “Invalid user ID or password”. I tried the “Forgot Password”, but another message “Invalid mobile number or email” showed up again.”

Many users complained that the app was unresponsive and kept crashing. “I have tried countless times to register but unable to do so,” said one user. Another said: “So badly developed that I wouldn’t want to rate even a star. How to expect public to download and use this app if the app itself contains errors and not usable?”

An error message received by one user who tried to register with MySejahtera this evening.

Noor Hisham, speaking at his daily press briefing, said: “We are looking at how we can address this issue and maybe we will extend the registration period within 24 hours or a week to get everyone registered.”

As part of the government’ economic stimulus package, a RM50 credit will be made to the e-wallets of those who install the MySejahtera application.

The MySejahtera app, available at Apple App Store and Google Play Store, is designed to help monitor the spread of Covid-19 infections by enabling users to carry out self-health assessments through their smartphones.

It was jointly developed by the health ministry, science ministry and the national cyber security agency. - FMT