KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has achieved all five key performance indicators in conjunction with the 100-Day Aspirasi Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family Aspirations) including the National Adolescent Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK Remaja) and the implementation of the Covid-19 Care Package (PPC) initiative.
Its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said to date, 90 per cent of teenagers aged 12 to 17 had received at least one dose of vaccine, while 86.6 per cent had completed their vaccination, exceeding the set target of 80 per cent.
“At first, there was a bit of reluctance among parents who might have been worried and afraid of the side effects to their children, but we see that the programme has run smoothly.
“Our teenagers are also very eager to receive the vaccine, and their level of knowledge on the vaccine is also very high,” he said during the Bernama Bulletin programme broadcast on Bernama TV today.
He also advised the public to get booster shots, especially with the existence of Omicron variant which has higher infectivity than the Delta variant, and informed that 3.2 million booster doses had been administered so far.
Meanwhile, Khairy said so far, 100,000 PPC packs containing four Covid-19 self-test kits, four reusable face masks, one thermometer and a pulse oximeter as well as health information leaflets had been distributed to B40 families.
He said the packs would continue to be distributed to a total of 3.6 million B40 families in the next few weeks.
“This is a very caring idea from the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) to help the people, especially the B40 families in the transition towards the endemic phase, where we know, if there are symptoms and if found positive, we isolate ourselves and always monitor the situation at home,” he said.
Meanwhile, the MOH has also managed to achieve the target of reducing the use of Covid-19 beds in intensive care units (ICUs) from 95 per cent to below 70 per cent, and non-ICU beds from 80 per cent to below 50 per cent, on September 24.
Khairy said overall, the use of beds for Covid-19 treatment had declined, with the use of ICU beds now at 26 per cent while for non-ICU beds, it was 19 per cent.
He said the MOH had also succeeded in reducing brought-in-dead (BID) cases by improving the monitoring system for self-quarantined patients as well as increasing the vaccination rate.
Khairy said the ministry had also managed to reduce the backlog of 8,725 elective surgeries by over 10 per cent, through an initiative to outsource surgical services to private hospitals.
He said the government had allocated RM202 million for the purpose, and the MOH would continue the initiative next year, especially to expedite surgeries for critical cases.
Meanwhile, he also advised the public who will participate in the 100-Day AKM programme which will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) for four days beginning tomorrow, to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“Phase four states can hold exhibitions and so on, so it is not a problem. However, the people should remember to always follow MOH’s recommendations,” he said. — Bernama
* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.
