Aged care facility operators are requesting solid assurance from Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the government that undocumented foreign staff will not be arrested if they come forward for Covid-19 vaccinations.
This was especially since the staff needed to be protected against the virus as they work with senior citizens, a high-risk group.
In an online forum today, Social Welfare Department (JKM) elderly division director Azmir Kassim shared that outbreaks detected at aged care homes often originated from staff, not residents.
“They are the ones who come in and go out from the institution.
“When targeted screening is being done by the Health Ministry and our department, with most of the cases - the original case comes from the care workers,” he said.
Azmir shared that about 10 percent of the 2,500 senior citizens from three of the 17 JKM aged care facilities had contracted Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
Panellists at the “Vaccination plan for residential aged care staff and residents” forum thus concurred that aged care workers ought to be vaccinated alongside their elderly patients.
Under the government’s National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, the elderly will be vaccinated in Phase 2 (April to August 2021).
Vaccinations are free for all who choose to register for them regardless of citizenship status.
PM must give assurance
Aged care operators can pre-register for Health Ministry’s “mobile units” to come to their facility to administer Covid-19 vaccinations.
To do so, operators must first provide personal information including an identification card and passport numbers of all residents and staff.
According to Family Health Development division officer Dr Noraliza Noordin Merican, the ministry will not discriminate between registered and unregistered aged care facilities when administering the shots. Neither will it discriminate based on citizenship status.
Association for Residential Aged Care Operators (Age Cope) secretary Fong Muntoh shared that many homes had foreign staff and questioned if “retrospective action” would be taken on undocumented workers after they come forward for vaccinations.
In response, Noraliza said the enforcement of immigration laws was not under the purview of the Health Ministry.
Fong foresaw low compliance from aged care facilities if the government was not forthcoming in its assurance.
“The homes will not give you the data. And even I as the Age Cope secretary will not support it because I do not have the assurance and I can’t put my members in jeopardy,” he remarked.
Fong thus urged Muhyiddin, the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department to give their assurance that undocumented workers will not be arrested.
“We trust the Health Ministry (as) they have acted in good faith, we trust the JKM.
“It’s the other parties who have access to the same information (that) we can’t trust.
“We are not demanding but we are putting the issues on the table. Since all this is under the National Security Council and the safety of the country is important [...] I think it’s very very important that in fact, the PM himself should give that assurance,” he stressed.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin previously said the government will work with NGOs to build trust among migrant and refugee communities so that they will come forward for vaccinations.
Last year, immigration officers conducted several large scale raids in areas placed under enhanced movement control order and arrested hundreds of undocumented migrants.
In one raid in central Kuala Lumpur in May, eyewitnesses said that door-to-door checks were conducted and those without documentation were taken away in trucks.
Today’s forum was jointly organised by the Health Ministry, JKM, Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing), the Malaysian Institute of Geriatric Medicine and Age Cope. - Mkini
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