THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is urging the Government to mass test the public in COVID-19 hotspots to prevent further spread of infections, especially in Selangor.
In a statement yesterday, MMA highlighted that the massive surge of COVID-19 cases is a clear indication that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are inadequate.
“Although the SOPs are important, but merely hoping for improvements is not good enough, especially since the infection is happening at a much faster rate. We should not be waiting for cases to pop up. We should be mass testing the community instead,” said MMA president Prof Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy.
Concerned with the new COVID-19 variants and the high number of cases and deaths, Subramaniam said that community transmissions have been high with an increase in sporadic cases, which is an indication that there are many who are unaware they are infected and are unknowingly spreading infections.
Therefore, Subramaniam believes that there is an urgent need to mass RTK Antigen screen people in all hotspots, quickly isolate the positive cases and trace close contacts to be tested to prevent further community transmission and deaths.
Apart from the mass testing, funds are also needed to increase the capacity of intensive care units (ICUs) in medical centres, along with medical equipment and resources for public hospitals, as well as adequate manpower.
However, acknowledging the fact that the process of hiring full timers will be time consuming, MMA proposed for the Government to arrange for medical and nursing students as well as medical assistants with basic medical knowledge to be roped in to assist the District Health Offices (PKDs) and public hospitals with contact tracing and administrative work.
“Vaccinating the population needs to be sped up. If we continue to struggle with poor SOP compliance, vaccinations will be the solution. We need to vaccinate as many people as possible especially in hot spots and all vulnerable groups in the quickest time possible. One way to fast track this is via the private general practitioners (GPs),” Subramaniam continued.
There are 2,500 GPs registered under ProtectHealth to participate in Phase 2 and 3 of the National Immunisation Programme (NIP) while a total 5,000 (GPs and staff) have received training for the programme, however only 37 GPs have been on-boarded to conduct the vaccinations.
According to Subramaniam, with 2,500 GPs participating, an additional 75,000 vaccinations per day under the NIP can be carried out, with expectations for the number to increase as many other GPs have expressed interest in participating.
“The private GPs are an important component in nationwide vaccinations as they are well distributed in the country and close to the community. Many other countries have managed to speed up their vaccination programmes with private GP participation,” he explained.
Aside from this, the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) should also consider vaccines from other manufacturers that have a proven high efficacy and safety if there are issues in supply from Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and Sinovac. – May 21, 2021
