‘DOCTORS NOT LINKED TO NIP QUEUE JUMP’
Ministry officers must okay standby jab recipient, says private hospital group chief
THE Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia denies that doctors in private practice are enabling people to jump National Immunisation Programme (NIP) queues by placing them on the standby list of the Covid-19 vaccine.
APHM president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said it was impossible for doctors to vaccinate people according to their whims as everything was monitored by the Health Ministry, which owns the Covid-19 vaccines.
He said all private hospitals engaged as vaccination centres had a standby list for no-shows.
He said the list had to be given to an officer appointed by the authorities before people on standby were allowed to take the vaccination slot of a no-show.
He said hospitals prepared a backup list which could run into the thousands, comprising people aged 60 and above, and patients who are immunocompromised or have diseases such as cancer and kidney trouble.
“When there is a no-show, those in charge or appointed to the centre from the government’s vaccine committee, the Health Ministry or its agency ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd, will go through this list and decide who gets the vaccine,” he told the New Straits Times.
He was responding to claims that doctors at vaccination centres were taking advantage of loopholes in the system and putting family and friends on the standby list.
On reports of young Malaysians getting vaccinated outside the AstraZeneca opt-in programme and the frontliners’ group, Dr Kuljit declined to comment.
He said guidelines stated that a younger person with comorbidities could take the place of an elderly person unable to attend an appointment.
“These are the protocols. We cannot edit the master list (first list of vaccine candidates) by the authorities in the system or upload
our own names or list, as we don’t have access.
“If there is a no-show, the officers appointed on the ground seek out a profile that matches the list and decide who it will be given to,” he said, adding that the calls would be made either by the officers or the hospital staff once the replacement has been decided on.
He also said the names of those on standby would be uploaded onto the system only when they turn up for the vaccine jab.
Asked what would happen if those on standby also did not turn up, Dr Kuljit said replacements could still be easily found.
“If we are vaccinating 100 people, we have around 20 people on the standby list for the day.
“These people mostly turn up
when called to stand in because vaccines are very much in demand now.
“If they don’t, we can always pick out additional names from our main list consisting of thousands.”
He said to ensure that the replacement candidate’s profile matches the person who drops out, occasionally, an elderly person’s second vaccination date would be brought forward.
“When you are dealing with Sinovac, its logistics are easier to handle than Pfizer, which has six doses per vial and requires cold temperatures to store and time to thaw.”
Dr Kuljit also declined to comment on reports that hospital administrative staff were given the jabs during phase 1 of the vaccination
exercise involving frontliners.
He said private hospitals and other healthcare providers involved in the programme had been warned to follow the authorities’ criteria to the letter.
“On paper, these criteria have to be followed and all private hospitals are aware of this.”
Dr Kuljit said the public should lodge complaints with the Health Ministry if they suspect something was amiss, be it queuejumping or other underhanded practices.
“If there are doctors selling socalled vaccines or giving patients options as to the vaccines they are to get, they should quickly lodge reports with the ministry, as these are fraudulent practices.”