Allow private vaccinations to go on, say medical groups

 

Police have raided several clinics selling fake vaccination certificates in five states this month. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Despite numerous cases of private clinics selling fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) says private facilities should not be stopped from vaccinating the public.

MMA said stopping private practitioners from administering vaccinations would be unfair to the majority of doctors who had been professional and maintaining the “highest ethical standards” in their practice.

“They should not be punished for the actions of a few bad apples,” MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai told FMT.

“It is an issue of integrity. MMA will support the sternest action taken against any medical practitioner found to be involved in such irresponsible and criminal acts.”

Police have busted clinics selling fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates in five states this month. One clinic in Terengganu was found to have issued 1,900 such certificates. In another clinic in Selangor, it was found that 5,601 patients were registered as vaccine recipients despite not having been vaccinated.

Investigations are underway under Section 269 of the Penal Code for a negligent act that could spread an infectious disease, and Section 22 (d) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, which relates to providing false information.

Azrul Mohd Khalib of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy also said private practitioners should be allowed to continue vaccinating the public, highlighting the key role they had played in delivering booster shots.

“The private doctors are rolling out 70% of the booster shots, so they are very much a critical component of the vaccination programme,” he said.

“We should not overreact. Instead, we should focus on the success of this programme.”

ProtectHealth, which manages private medical practitioners under the national Covid-19 immunisation programme, has administered 73% of some 9.3 million booster shots as of Jan 16.

Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM) president Dr Steven Chow also said private doctors should be allowed to continue vaccinating people.

He said it was important to put into perspective the proportion of fake certificates compared with the number of bona fide vaccinations given by these doctors.

Stating that general practitioners faced issues such as a cap in vaccine prices, MySejahtera glitches and being dropped from the programme in favour of mega vaccination centres, Chow said such disruptions would affect the confidence of both the doctors and the public in the vaccination programme.

“The federation stands by its members who have been offering their services to the country selflessly during this pandemic. We hope they will continue to do so and not pull out from the vaccination programme,” he said. - FMT