Private hospitals begin COVID-19 vaccination for public today

KUALA LUMPUR: Some private hospitals in the country have started administering COVID-19 vaccine doses to the general public today following the government's decision to allow private hospitals to be used as vaccination centres, in phases two and three of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

In PENANG, three private hospitals started to vaccinate Penangites today, namely Pantai Hospital Penang (PHP), Lam Wah Ee Hospital and KPJ Penang, with a daily target of 500 recipients a day.

ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Dr Anas Alam Faizli said more private hospitals and general practitioners (GPs) registered under the vaccination programme will soon begin their operation.

He said 12 private hospitals and more than 100 GPs have registered under ProtectHealth, the implementer of private medical practitioners' participation in the national immunisation exercise.

"We believe if all the GPs and private hospitals in Penang participate in this programme, we can increase and achieve the target dosage per day set by the Penang government," he told Bernama during a site visit to the PHP vaccination centre today.

In NEGERI SEMBILAN, CMH Specialist Hospital has been selected as a COVID-19 vaccination centre in Seremban to facilitate efforts towards achieving herd immunity against the deadly virus.

Its president Datuk Lee Tian Hock in a statement said that the hospital will inoculate those on the list of recipients provided by the government on time under the guidance of the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) and ProtectHealth.

He said the vaccination process will follow the qualification criteria set by MOH through the MySejahtera application or vaksincovid.gov.my.

Lee reminded vaccine recipients to bring along their identity card, mobile phone and their own pen on the day of their appointment.

Meanwhile in PERAK, Ar-Ridzuan Medical Centre in Ipoh joined in the effort to help speed up the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Perak by inoculating 50 people today.

Ar-Ridzuan Medical Group General Manager Khairul Salleh Abdul Rani said the elderly and chronic patients who received their appointment via the MySejahtera application were given the Sinovac COVID-19 jabs starting 9 am.

"We have also given vaccine injections to 67 patients receiving the Haemodialysis treatment through the outreach programme with MOH that started in May," he told a press conference here today.

He said the medical group was also ready to help the state government expedite the COVID-19 vaccination programme in rural areas, including in Orang Asli villages, to achieve herd immunity.

Khairul Salleh said the hospital could vaccinate 200 recipients a day, adding all quarters should check the appointment notification on their MySejahtera application from time to time so that they will not miss the opportunity to get vaccinated against the disease.

Meanwhile KPJ Healthcare Berhad (KPJ) president and managing director Ahmad Shahizam Mohd Shariff in his statement today said beginning Monday, KPJ will be administering up to 6,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccination daily by the end of the month.

He said the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre vaccination centre will provide a total of 2,600 doses daily while another 3,400 doses will be administered by 20 KPJ hospitals nationwide.

"KPJ will account for four per cent of the targeted national daily vaccination of 150,000, the largest number of daily vaccinations by a private healthcare group in Malaysia," he said.

Ahmad Shahizam said KPJ is fully committed to supporting the government's vaccination programme by allocating more than 10 per cent of its workforce and clinical expertise throughout Malaysia including medical consultants, nurses, pharmacists and administrative support.

-- BERNAMA