SUNGAI PETANI, June 2 — The Kedah government will apply to the federal government to allow more private healthcare centres to be designated as vaccination centres (PPV) in efforts to speed up the vaccination process in the state.
Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the move was also to ease the burden of health workers at the existing Ministry of Health (MOH) PPVs which are operating at maximum level, especially in the densely populated areas such as the Kota Setar and Kuala Muda districts.
He said in Kuala Muda for example, 325,000 people are in need of vaccination and if there are no additional PPVs, it would take 7.25 months to complete the vaccination process in the district.
“The vaccination capacity here has increased from 600 to 1,000 recipients and several government health clinics have also been converted as PPVs, but the capacity is only 200 a day and they operate three days a week,” he told reporters after checking on the PPV at Sungai Petani Municipal Council, here today.
He added that private sector involvement was still lacking as only five private clinics in the state have been approved for that purpose and each PPV could only handle 30 recipients each day.
As such, he hoped that MOH would allow him to deal with ProtectHealth Corporation (ProtectHealth) which is the implementer of private medical practitioner participation in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, to increase their participation in the state.
“We hope this request would be looked into as MOH and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) need to focus on the large districts here,” he added. — Bernama
