.jpg "People wait to receive their Covid-19 jab at the Ar-Ridzuan Medical Centre in Ipoh June 7, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Farhan Najib")
IPOH, June 7 — The Ar-Ridzuan Medical Centre is among the latest private hospitals in Perak to administer Covid-19 vaccines for folks around here to expedite the vaccination process in the state.
The medical centre, which is now part of the national vaccination centres (PPV) here, was appointed by ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd (ProtectHealth) under the supervision of the Health Ministry.
A check by Malay Mail today at the PPV saw about 50 recipients receiving their first dose of the Sinovac vaccines.
The recipients, who were mostly senior citizens, started queuing up as early as 8.30am.
The vaccination process ran smoothly as the PPV was not congested compared to the larger vaccination centre at the Stadium Indera Mulia here.
Ample parking was also spotted, which is likely to reduce traffic congestion in the area.
Ar-Ridzuan Medical Centre group general manager Khairul Salleh Abdul Rani said that the recipients mostly hail from the Kinta district, namely Manjoi, Simpang Pulai and Ipoh.
“This programme will help the state government to achieve the 80 percent vaccination rate among the public fast and also to create herd immunity,” he said.
Despite being a private hospital, Khairul pointed out that the recipients will still have to register for their vaccination under the MySejahtera application.
“The individuals can not choose their vaccination or centres as we are part of the national immunisation programme. All the registrations will come under the MySejahtera application. We do not sell vaccines, it’s free for the public.
“At the moment, we are only providing the Sinovac vaccines and for the first two weeks we limit the recipients to 50 people a day. However, our actual capacity is about 200 recipients per day. We will increase to our maximum capacity soon,” he said.
He also said those who will be eligible for the vaccination at their centre at the moment are the people who are categorised as high risk or senior citizens as similar to the ongoing second phase vaccination programme nationwide.
He also revealed that the hospital has initially completed vaccinations for their 67 hemodialysis patients without any complication.
“The first dose was given on May 3 and the second dose was given on May 24. All the patients were safe and did not experience any discomfort despite having allergic histories. We can be assured that vaccination is safe,” he said.
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Khairul also said the PPV will be operating from 9am to 4pm daily, even during public holidays, until the third phase of the national vaccination programme.
“Recipients can check their vaccination appointment via MySejahtera and we will also call and inform them a day before their appointment to make sure none of the individuals missed the vaccination,” he said.
He also said the hospital is also planning to cooperate with student volunteers from Perak to vaccinate members of government-linked companies and government agencies soon.
Two other private hospitals, namely the Perak Community Specialist Hospital and Hospital Pantai Manjung in Seri Manjung are also administering the vaccines in Perak for now.
On May 30, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is targeting to designate 1,000 general practitioner (GP) clinics and private hospitals nationwide as vaccination centres before June 30.
