Vaccines: Putrajaya told to abandon 'monopoly' approach

 

Putrajaya should heed the call by the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations (FPMPAM) to involve clinics on a mass scale in the Covid-19 vaccination effort.

This was in contrast to the current system where most vaccination doses are under the "monopoly" of centralised vaccination centres, said Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.

"Will the prime minister now listen to the civil society and adopt an 'all-of government' and 'whole-of-society' strategy and approach after trying to resolve the Covid-19 pandemic through a government monopoly?" he said in a statement.

Yesterday, the FPMPAM said the government should focus on rolling out the Covid-19 vaccines through private general practitioners and government health clinics nationwide rather than a handful of centralised vaccination centres.

Its president Dr Steven Chow Kim Weng said 7,000 GPs and thousands of government health clinics can easily vaccinate 50 patients a day and together with private hospitals can quickly achieve critical mass.

Lim reminded Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of his New Year's message about strengthening Malaysia's position on the world stage but added that he had appeared to have done the opposite.

He noted that when the emergency came into force on Jan 11, there were a cumulative of 138,224 Covid-19 cases and 559 deaths. He added that cumulative cases are now at 549,514 and 2,552 deaths.

"Will Muhyiddin advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to convene Parliament and restore the important check-and-balance role of Parliament as provided in the constitution now that it is as clear as the light of day that an emergency could only aggravate the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic?" he said. - Mkini