PETALING JAYA: A prominent entrepreneur has called on the government to decentralise the vaccination process, which he says is bogged down by the current centralisation policy.
The businessman, who spoke to theSun on condition of anonymity, said Malaysia must learn from China where because of decentralisation, the vaccination process for its 36 provinces and a population of 1.4 billion had more or less been completed within 10 months.
“We can do the same. Vaccination is a health issue and therefore, it can be decentralised because we have hospitals and thousands of clinics across every nook and corner of the country, even as far as Belaga in Sarawak, the most remote district in the country.”
He also proposed that the centralised MySejahtera online registration system could similarly be decentralised to make it more efficient and to prevent system glitches and congestion.
He added that vaccination was not something alien to the country as throughout the years of its existence, the population had been inoculated against diseases like polio, malaria and a long list of other medical conditions by way of decentralisation.
He pointed out that the ongoing vaccination in the country was lagging far behind schedule because two things – the target groups and the process per se – were wrong.
“With due respect to the senior citizens group which is given priority to receive the vaccine jabs, the priority should instead be on people who move the economy or our livelihoods after all the frontliners have been vaccinated.
“The senior citizens are not running our businesses and the economy down the line as most of them are just staying at home. Priority should be given to the tens of thousands of factory workers and the business community whose operations have been severely hit due to the prolonged lockdowns.”
As far as the healthcare infrastructure is concerned, Malaysia is already decentralised and he does not see that rationale for centralising vaccine procurement.
“States, especially the bigger ones like Sabah and Sarawak, should be allowed to procure their own vaccines at the early stage under strict adherence with the standard operating procedures as is done in China, instead of depending entirely on the federal government.”
On another matter, he strongly opined that as the vaccination process is a healthcare issue amid this unprecedented health crisis, he does not see the justification for Khairy Jamaluddin, the minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, being the coordinating minister for the National Inoculation Programme.
“This task should be in the entire control of the Health Ministry as it has got nothing to do with science or technology. As it is now, there have been frequent flip-flops and lack of coordination too,” he said.
“So, let’s get the process and the target right. But for this to happen, let’s get our act together,” he added.
