Health Ministry to conduct risk assessment in Tawar cluster area

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said any announcement on the implementation of TEMCO will only be made by the National Security Council (MKN) after discussions with MOH.

"Before any announcement, we need to look into certain circumstances in an area that is to be declared a red or yellow zone.

"The state government has not announced the TEMCO because the authorities to decide on this are the MKN and the federal government, with the announcement to be made by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob," he told the media after launching the MyDebit ATM card payment campaign at MOH hospitals and health clinics here today.

News reports had said that Kedah plans to implement the TEMCO in the Tawar sub-district following the detection of a new COVID-19 cluster in the area, which has recorded 21 positive cases of the virus to date.

On the MyDebit ATM card payment campaign, Dr Adham said MOH's collaboration with PayNet was a government initiative to intensify the use of debit cards at payment counters of MOH facilities.

The campaign, which is from July 1 to Dec 31, gives customers the opportunity to use debit cards to pay their medical bills at MOH facilities during the campaign period and get a chance to win prizes.

Three lucky MyDebit ATM cardholders will take home a Yamaha Y15ZR motorcycle and another 50 MyDebit ATM cardholders stand a chance to win a monthly prize of RM100 cash during the campaign period.

"MOH facilities that show an increase in the use of debit cards will also be given incentives for encouraging their use by patients," he said.

"The payment method using ATM cards, apart from facilitating patient movement, can also reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases such as COVID-19," he added.

Currently, the e-payment method using debit cards is available at 139 hospitals, four health institutions and 144 health clinics.

Dr Adham said MOH received 37.48 million paying patients throughout Malaysia last year and 12.74 million paying patients in the first six months of this year.

Also present at the event were Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) director of Stakeholder Management Division, Firdaus Ghani.