MP SPEAKS | The federal government and Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) must look at ways to simplify the recruitment process and remove any unnecessary "red tape" to further encourage and recruit more from the private sector.

This includes general practitioner (GP) clinics to help speed up the country’s vaccination efforts especially if we want to achieve herd immunity by year-end.

Based on the statement by Vaccine Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, there are 2,467 GPs that have signed up with ProtectHealth Corporation, who is the appointed implementor by the ministry to handle the participation of private medical practitioners in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).

While this is encouraging, more must be done to further recruit and utilise community GPs in providing comprehensive immunisation coverage for their local populations.

While the government’s strategy seems to be more focused on large-scale mass vaccination centres (PPVs), I believe they should focus on "decentralising PPVs" by opening more small and medium scale ones in different zones of each constituency. 

This will ease up the congestion in the large-scale PPVs as well as be more convenient for the public, especially the elderly so that they do not have to stand and queue for long in the crowd.

By reducing the congestion in these large-scale PPVs, we will also then reduce the risk of spreading the virus in the PPV, turning it into a possible unwanted cluster.

Such smaller PPVs are also closer to the constituents so that they do not need to travel far to get to their appointments. Such decentralisation is even more pertinent now that the government is looking at significantly increasing our daily vaccination rate.

In order to make this possible, more GPs must be roped into helping with the vaccination with a more simplified recruitment system, improved appointment system through MySejahtera as well as reduced “red tapes” so that even the small community GPs can play their part in expanding our vaccine coverage.

Requirements set by ProtechHealth can be simplified including reducing the required three-hour online training, and instead of expecting the GPs to go and collect the vaccines themselves at designated centres, the government can use existing vaccine delivery network to deliver the vaccines direct to the GPs, cutting off the need for GPs to source and purchase the necessary “cool box” and electronic temperature data logger that is needed for the transportation.

Most GPs and the private sector are experienced and have been handling and administering vaccines for years and there are existing networks and standard operating procedures (SOPs) already in place without the need to re-invent the whole wheel that may discourage GPs from signing up. 

While it is of utmost importance to make sure the integrity of the vaccine is maintained throughout, unnecessary red tape can be reduced so smaller GPs in the semi-rural and rural areas will not hesitate to be part of the programme.

While there are about 2,500 GPs that have registered, we want to see a target of 5,000 or more to increase population coverage. Many members of the public may feel more comfortable visiting their GP or family doctor to receive the vaccine and this may also help address hesitancy.

When there are more GPs nationwide signed up and the stock of vaccine is consistent, only then we can formulate a simpler appointment system or even a walk-in system while reducing the risk of congestion like what has been adopted in Singapore especially for the elderly and high-risk groups.

For that to happen, the government must take proactive steps to engage with all the doctor groups to better understand their concerns, adopt their feedback and quickly mobilise them for smoother implementation. 

While I am sure they are more than willing to play their part in this fight against Covid-19, they must be properly engaged and mobilised earlier rather than waiting until cases get more serious in the country.

KELVIN YII is MP for Bandar Kuching.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.