THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has proposed that the Government do away with MySejahtera’s check-in feature for the purpose of contact tracing as the feature is no longer as useful as it was during the earlier phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The use of MySejahtera allowed contact tracing to be done during the height of the pandemic, a feat that would have been impossible without the MySejahtera app, said association president Dr Koh Kar Chai.
“However, it may have outlived its usefulness as a contact tracing app. With the large numbers of positive cases within and surrounding us, contact tracing will not be adopted on a wide scale as it will not yield the expected results,” he added.
“As we are transitioning towards an endemic phase of COVID-19 it’s time that we consider a halt to the scanning of MySejahtera each time we enter a premise especially when we complete the phase of transition [to endemicity].”
Dr Koh also said that as the MySejahtera app has been adopted by a large number of the Malaysian population, it could be put to better use.
“The contact tracing feature of the app should still be preserved as we will not know when the next pandemic will turn up,” he remarked.
“The MySejahtera app can be adapted to be used as a personal health record as it is already linked to individual IDs and is non-transferable.”
Dr Koh went on to note that the main worry would be the security of the data, and expressed hopes that the Government will continue being proactive in securing the people’s trust in the app with hopes that it can ultimately be used in the management of health records in the move towards an effective healthcare system.
“What is lacking in the healthcare structure of this country is a centralised management system for the health records of our population,” he remarked.
“There is a need for an electronic medical record system that is secure and accessible by the healthcare providers in order that there is seamless care for the health of the people unlike now where many a times we see that healthcare records are not accessible across healthcare facilities or providers.” – March 30, 2022
