NIP is not a Perikatan Nasional monopoly

 

MP SPEAKS | It’s really time to do things differently.

The Perikatan Nasional government and Khairy Jamaluddin, the minister in charge of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program (NIP), are trying but the vaccine rollout is slow.

Imagine dead bodies being kept in containers at the Sungai Buloh Hospital.

And stop a moment to take stock of the rising number of infections in the country, hitting almost 5,000 Tuesday.

Or the number of people needing the intensive care unit and ventilators. Or the fact that more young people are succumbing to the virus.

These images are chilling.

Public health management is the responsibility of all stakeholders, especially at the time of a pandemic.

The federal government should not consider the National Immunisation Programme as a Perikatan Nasional monopoly.

Instead, it needs to urgently mobilise the 2,500 private clinics across the country that have registered to help facilitate the vaccination process.

In fact, 5,000 general practitioners and their staff have been trained in the last two months and are awaiting the go-ahead from the Ministry of Health.

For now, only 37 clinics have been authorised to vaccinate as part of the vaccine roll-out.

In engaging all the participating clinics in the fight against Covid-19, the government will be able to decentralise the vaccination process and reach out to as many more people as possible.

A second consideration is for the government to encourage private foundations, philanthropists, private and professional groups and non-governmental organisations to partner with national efforts in combatting the virus.

Their contributions should not be dismissed.

The availability of more resources means that more people can be vaccinated in a shorter time.

The third strategy as part of a fast-track approach should be to allow state governments to procure Covid-19 vaccines and undertake vaccinations instead of blocking these initiatives using NIP as an excuse.

In fact, this demonstrates abuse of power as in the case of Penang and is no different from Big Pharma opposing a global vaccine patent waiver that is aimed at saving lives.

The continuing spike in Covid-19 numbers is creating doubt about the government’s ability to manage the spread of the virus successfully despite the federal emergency in place.

Slow or delayed vaccination allows the virus to keep spreading and the risk of its mutation that could result in more deaths.

It would also continue to devastate further our economy and livelihoods.

The government has declared an emergency to fight Covid-19 but clearly, the approach to solving the problem has been anything but urgent.

And gives rise to the suspicion that maybe some "napoleons" are profiting from the people’s misery. - Mkini

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CHARLES SANTIAGO is Member of Parliament for Klang.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.