MySejahtera upgraded 200 times

PETALING JAYA: The MySejahtera mobile app is still evolving, more than a year after it was introduced to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.

Data, Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) head Dr Mahesh Appanan said when the app was launched in April 2020, it only focused on three goals: providing information, participative surveillance and contact tracing.

Within 18 months, he said it had evolved to provide vaccination information, point of entry surveillance and digital healthcare, among others.

MySejahtera has undergone over 200 upgrades with 49 mobile updates for optimum performance.

“End-users might not be aware of this,” Dr Mahesh said, adding that the team was aware of the challenges users faced, “especially regarding reaching out to the helpdesk service.”

“We are looking into improving the helpdesk feature. Most of the complaints and reports we received were linked to user issues,” he said.

Fed up with no help from the desk, people resorted to exchanging information and experiences with each other by creating a “support group” page on Facebook.

Entry rules: Shoppers having their temperature taken at the Squid Game screen at Sunway Pyramid in Subang Jaya. — ART CHEN/The Star

Some shared their frustrations while others helped by sharing their experiences.

Dr Mahesh said his team would also delve into this public-led initiative and figure out ways to have better communication with the masses.

Despite several software updates and system changes, Malaysians say there is still much to be done. They want it to be more user-friendly.

For instance, administrative executive Hasna Hassan, 45, said a dependent’s vaccination certificate should be reflected on his or her MySejahtera account.

“As an example, my 75-year-old father is my dependent and he has been fully inoculated but he is living in our hometown in Kedah.

“However, his vaccination certificate is on my device and it is hard for him to visit any public places because he does not have the digital certificate on his phone.

“I suggest that MySejahtera synchronise the vaccination certificate for both main profile and dependent,” said Hasna, who lives in Petaling Jaya.

She added that the “check-out” feature had become a problem as a user tended to miss the step when they leave a premises.

“Maybe, MySejahtera can introduce a feature that notifies the user to click on the check-out button after a period of time.

“There were cases where individuals were recorded as ‘casual contacts’ as a positive case was detected in the premises from where they forgot to check-out,” Hasna said, adding that it created unnecessary panic among users.

Another user, who wished to be known only as Josephine, concurred.

“I would like to receive notifications to remind me to check-out from the premises I have visited throughout the day,” the 25-year old executive said.

Malaysian Shopping Malls Association president Tan Sri Datuk Teo Chiang Kok said mall operators had the freedom to set their level of stringency, such as not allowing “casual contact” individuals to enter their premises.

“Malls have diligently and stringently complied with and implemented the various categories of standard operating procedures (SOPs) throughout the pandemic, resulting in practically a green bubble environment within the mall.

“For example, not allowing ‘casual contact’ status individuals to enter is at the discretion of the operator,” he said, adding that mall operators should also make sure they followed the minimum requirements stipulated by the National Security Council (NSC).

According to NSC guidelines, individuals whose status is “casual contact, with no symptoms” are allowed to enter public premises.

Addressing the possibility of “risk” status being changed to “casual contact” for not checking-out from MySejahtera, Dr Mahesh, who is also the Health Ministry’s senior principal assistant director of the Disease Control Division, said the situation was almost impossible.

“The algorithm has been put in place to ensure highest accuracy of data,” he said.

He said as a part of the learning process, the public should anticipate new MySejahtera enhancements in the near future.

In September, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the ministry was working on a few solutions to address the “check-out” issue. - Star