UM, Socso sign deal on social protection agenda
KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Malaya and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) signed a five-year strategic partnership agreement yesterday to build a sustainable social protection agenda for the country.
The partnership is an extension of a memorandum of understanding, signed between UM and Socso in 2015, to manage the intervention and rehabilitation of injured workers registered with Socso under the Return-toWork (RTW) programme.
The agreement was signed by Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Hamdi Abd Shukor and Socso chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed.
Present were Deputy ViceChancellor (Research & Innovation) Professor Norsaadah Abd Rahman, UM’s Social Wellbeing Research Centre (SWRC) director Emeritus Professor Datuk Norma Mansor and Socso chief strategy and transformation officer Edmund Cheong Peck Huang.
Previously, SWRC was appointed as the certification agency to manage Socso’s Certified Disability Management Professional (CDMP), the Certified Return-toWork Coordinator (CRTWC) and professional certifications of the International Disability Management Standards Council.
Hamdi said the partnership would boost efforts to promote CDMP and CRTWC to countries in the region.
“Since the end of 2016, SWRC and Socso’s RTW Department have been working on an ambitious venture to review the training modules and examination questions provided by the National Institute for Disability Management and Research, translate the training modules and questions into Bahasa Malaysia, and develop additional questions specific to our local context.
“Alhamdulilah , since 2017, CDMP and CRTWC have been conducted in English and BM per year to about 70 Socso employees who work as case managers or placement officers for the injured workers.
“In 2019, these professional certificates included participants from other agencies and related industry in Malaysia as well as Indonesia,” he said at Dewan Tunku Canselor UM.
Azman said the partnership would strengthen social security knowledge among Socso employees and the public by focusing on capacity building, research and advocacy.
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the landscape clearly emphasises the need for a holistic and agile social security that can support the nation.
“Under the stimulus packages announced by the government, Socso has disbursed more than RM14.1 billion worth of assistance to more than 354,000 employers involving 2.7 million workers during the crisis.”
He added that Socso would continue administering five initiatives: PenjanaKerjaya, Extended Job Search Allowance, Targeted Wage Subsidy Programme to the tourism and retail industry, SPS Lindung under the Self-Employed Social Security Scheme, and Covid-19 Screening Programme for foreign workers.
A webinar session themed “Mitigating Covid-19 Impacts on Employment: The Different Phases and What’s Next?” was held in conjunction with the signing.
In the session, Socso’s Prevention, Medical and Rehabilitation division head, Dr Azlan Darus, said 600,000 foreign workers were screened under Socso’s Covid-19 Screening Programme within 90 days of its implementation.
“When combined with the Health Ministry’s screening exercises, a total of one million foreign workers were screened during the 90-day period.
“However, since March 1, our screening showed a sharp decline from almost 10,000 per day previously to half of that.
“This raises concerns that we are becoming complacent due to the vaccine rollout, but the vaccination will be conducted in phases.
“Therefore, we must continue to protect ourselves, our families and businesses in the manner that we know how.”