TWO hundred clinics under the Penang Medical Practitioners Society (PMPS) have agreed to help the state and Federal governments to conduct Covid-19 vaccination for all Penangites for free.
State Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh said he was extremely happy with the kind gesture of the PMPS practitioners for volunteering their services.
“This is something unprecedented. Penang is the first state in the country to do this. And I want to thank them and their president Dr Parmjit Singh for their CSR (corporate social responsibility) and for volunteering to administer the vaccine without charge,” Jagdeep told a press conference at Komtar today.
He said he wholly agreed with a call by epidemiologist Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud for the Health Ministry to come up with a detailed vaccination plan which coincidentally was what he was going to touch on at the press conference.
Jagdeep urged Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also made the director of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, to let the public know more about the plan.
In a report by an English daily today, Dr Awang, who is also the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry’s head of the Independent Covid-19 Advisory Committee (ICVAC), said the plan should include details like registration, appointments, human resource, administration, transport and cold chain requirements.
He also said other things that need to be sorted out are location of vaccination centres, their opening hours, target population, how to contact potential vaccinees and follow up, and time-line.
Jagdeep said with several days to go before the vaccines arrive, Penang wants to be very prepared.
“We must be pro-active and ready to help the ministry. They have to work together with us as a family to overcome this pandemic which is our No. 1 enemy,” Jagdeep said.
In Penang, 1.3 million to 1.4 million people are expected to be inoculated based on the 80 percent target of the 1.78 million population in the state.
Overall, the immunisation programme will involve 26.5 million people out of the about 33 million population in the country.
Dr Parmjit said 200 clinics from the island and mainland responded quickly to his message in their WhatsApp group when the state government requested for PMPS’s assistance.
“We will wait for the final directive from the Heath Ministry on the SOPs and the next course of action. We will be working with the government doctors at several centres,” Dr Parmjit said.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Alissala Thian