Medical group urges review of MySejahtera, says outlived usefulness for Covid-19 contact tracing

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 ― The MySejahtera smart phone application is no longer useful for tracing Covid-19 close contacts as part of measures to curb the pandemic, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said today.

Its president Dr Koh Kar Chai urged the government to consider ending the need to use the app to scan codes before entry into premises as the nation transitions towards endemicity.

“The use of MySejahtera allowed contact tracing to be done during the height of the pandemic, a feat that would have been impossible without the MySejahtera app.

“However, it may have outlived its usefulness as a contact tracing app. With the large numbers of positive cases within and surrounding us, contact tracing will not be adopted on a wide scale as it will not yield the expected results,” he said in a statement.

Unlike others pushing for the app to be retired, Dr Koh suggested that MySejahtera still had its uses and should be adapted to be used as a personal health record, since it is already linked to individual identities and is non-transferable.

He noted the country currently lacks a centralised management system to record the health of its population.

“The contact tracing feature of the app should still be preserved as we will not know when the next pandemic will turn up,” he said.

But he also echoed the concerns of many others on the security of the personal data contained in the app.

“Looking at what is being shared on social media about the ownership of this app, it is hoped that the government will continue being proactive in securing the trust of the people in the app with the hope that it can ultimately be used in the management of health records in the move towards an effective healthcare system for the country,” he said.

Various civil groups and politicians from both sides of the divide have raised concern on data security and privacy concerns after news emerged that MySejahtera was to be sold to a private company.

Among them are Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has promised to address their concerns in the senate tomorrow.