The association believes Malaysians need more to be assured of a fast, secure and sustainable recovery so the remaining sectors can open and remain open without the threat of another MCO. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR (June 18): The National Recovery Plan announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on June 15 has a timeline of targets but lacks a clear strategy to flatten the curve and keep Covid-19 cases down, says Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).
The association believes Malaysians need more to be assured of a fast, secure and sustainable recovery so the remaining sectors can open and remain open without the threat of another Movement Control Order (MCO).
“No doubt, vaccination is a top priority but community screening programmes and a plan to improve SOP compliance are equally important components to ensure a sustainable recovery.
“In its recovery plan, there are targets to reduce daily cases to below 4,000, 2,000 and 500 but no mention was made on the targeted positivity rate, and reducing daily cases to below 4,000 or 2,000 would bear little significance if the positivity rate is high or above 5 per cent. There should be targets set to test the community especially in hotspot areas nationwide.
“We are seeing a rise in sporadic cases and this is an indication that the infection is widespread in the community, hence increased testing is needed to find and quickly isolate the infection in line with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Find Test Trace Isolate and Support (FTTIS) system,” said a press statement from the association.
These are tests apart from the screening of close contacts, and the association thus thinks that the extent of community spread will only truly be known when the community is screened.
MMA thinks that it will be vital to conduct these tests before deciding on relaxing restrictions, opening sectors and progressing to the next phase. The government should learn from past mistakes of lifting restrictions and opening sectors too early without sufficient screening for Covid-19 prevalence.
The association also said there is no mention of targets to vaccinate the manufacturing, construction, services and retail sectors, and the 3 to 4 million undocumented migrant workers.
Most of the workplace clusters in the daily new cases reported are from the manufacturing and construction sectors, hence dates should be set to ‘Covid-19 proof’ these sectors with mass vaccinations as soon as possible.
“There is also no mention made on the role of primary care in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP). A timeline should be set to achieve the target of roping in 5,000 private GPs who will be able to carry out 150,000 vaccinations per day that will almost double the current rate of vaccinations.
“Now that supply has improved, vaccination centres should be expanded to as many private clinics nationwide to getting vaccinations more convenient and accessible for the people,” said the statement.
The government must also clearly define what it means by ‘recovery phase’ as it would not be a recovery phase if the government starts to open more sectors when hospitals are still overwhelmed.
This is because if normal wards are still being repurposed for ICU usage, then it means that they are still overloaded and healthcare workers too need to know when it will finally be a ‘recovery phase’ for them.
“Another surge after three MCOs and two lockdowns can no longer be acceptable for them. They need a well deserved break,” said the statement.