MARCH 7 — Recently it was reported that the association representing private hospitals had requested the government to let them buy and administer Covid-19 vaccines.
It was reported:
“In a statement today, Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Dr Kuljit Singh said private hospitals can procure vaccines from different sources once approvals are granted by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency.”
“Private hospitals could be mobilised very fast to complement the government’s efforts in ensuring the majority of the population is vaccinated in the shortest possible time to assist in achieving ‘herd immunity’.”
“This will include utilising the government-endorsed track and trace system to build a database on the provision of vaccinations,” he said.”
Let us pause here for a moment.
From my reading, it appears that private hospitals are in a position to procure Covid-19 vaccines. Of course, should private hospitals purchase vaccines and administer them, it would come with a cost.
However, the government has already promised Malaysians that Covid-19 vaccines are free. Therefore, if at all private hospitals are willing to help Malaysian to administer the vaccine first, they should be able to do so and claim the costs later from the government. This is if the government itself is not in a position now to purchase the vaccines for the private hospitals. I do not know.
Whichever is the case, this is where the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 come into play.
The ordinance enables the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or persons authorised by him to temporarily take possession of land, buildings or other movable properties (Section 3) as well as demand use of resources — namely human resources, facilities, utilities and assets, and the controller of said resources (Section 4).
Therefore, with all due respect to everyone concerned, there is a mechanism in place during this emergency.
The emergency ordinance should be invoked to direct private hospitals to administer vaccines. The costs should not be an issue because whether the private hospital buys it first, or the government buys it for them to administer, or government reimburse private hospitals, at the end of the day, it is free for Malaysians.
The issue at hand here is this : are there private hospitals that can be added to the list of the current 600 vaccination centers to further expedite the vaccination process.
Suaram has responded saying that private hospitals should instead volunteer their premises as additional vaccination points to speed up the government’s free vaccination programme.
As we saw earlier, the association representing private hospitals has said, and to quote, ‘Private hospitals could be mobilised very fast to complement the government’s efforts in ensuring the majority of the population is vaccinated in the shortest possible time to assist in achieving ‘herd immunity’.
One can only wonder, when in a health crisis involving vaccines and the health sector during the operation of an emergency, how it came to a situation where private hospitals are ‘offering’ to complement the government’s efforts. With all due respect, they should be directed to compliment.
This is why I am wondering what then is the purpose of having Section 3 and Section 4 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance) 2021 if not for the enhancement of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
After all, the government advised for proclamation of emergency to curb the Covid-19 issue, and nothing else.
*Puthan Perumal is an advocate and solicitor.
**This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
