ProtectHealth urges public to report on fake vaccine certificates

KUALA LUMPUR: Members of the public have been encouraged to play their part as whistleblowers and report any suspicious or illegal activities to the authorities on the sale of fake vaccination certificates.

ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd (ProtectHealth), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ProtectHealth Malaysia established under the Ministry of Health (MOH), said the initiative could act as an effective deterrent to prevent fraud.

Following several media reports on the sale of fake vaccination certificates, ProtectHealth said it will not compromise with any private medical practitioners (PMPs) and healthcare non-governmental organisations (NGOs) found to be in breach of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and policies set by the MOH and ProtectHealth.

"In ensuring that PMPs under ProtectHealth perform quality services and adhere to the SOPs set by the MOH and ProtectHealth, regular random audits are conducted on the PMPs and healthcare NGOs.

"Should any non-compliance be found, ProtectHealth will take the necessary action and may suspend the PMP and healthcare NGOs concerned from conducting vaccinations under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK)," it said in a statement, today.

In addition, ProtectHealth's medical audit team will conduct on-demand investigations should there be any complaint lodged or whenever ProtectHealth observes any data anomaly from its monitoring.

It also said that the vaccine was only given to the PMPs and healthcare NGOs via a controlled mechanism by the vaccine storage centre (PSV) as per appointment counts issued by MySejahtera or the prepared line listing.

It said the vaccine administration records the vaccine serial number and both the identification of the vaccinee and vaccinator.

"ProtectHealth will not tolerate should any misconduct occur and will provide its fullest cooperation with the authorities should there be any related incident," it said.

Meanwhile, all PMPs under ProtectHealth are registered with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and their healthcare facilities are licensed under the MOH, as this was a pre-requisite to participate in the PICK programme as well as to ensure that the PMPs are embodied by the relevant law, it said.

PMPs and healthcare NGOs were also required to attend mandatory training before being allowed to administer vaccination and they receive regular guideline updates from ProtectHealth and the MOH, the statement read.

-- BERNAMA