The list of names in the MyVAS (vaccination administration system) database, which pulls information from MySejahtera, is supposed to be issued to doctors 14 days in advance, but doctors get them only a few days before they are due, according to a participating general practitioner.
As a result, she said, clinics would not have time to prepare for the vaccinations.
Doctors use myVAS to access the vaccination recipient list and to submit patient data.
Some people could have missed their “last-minute appointments” due to the delay, said the doctor who spoke to FMT.
“However, a plus point is that private doctors get to see and treat many neglected older patients who haven’t been seeing doctors or who have been self-medicating,” she said.
Another doctor, who vaccinates 60 patients a week at her clinic in Kuala Lumpur, also criticised the delay.
“I’ve been doing this for a month now but it has not been smooth-sailing,” she said.
She said the list of people to be vaccinated would be made known to her only 24 hours, or two days at most, before she had to collect vaccines for the upcoming week.
She also complained of technical difficulties and lags in the myVAS data logging system. “This causes problems for GPs when they try to key in patient details and the corresponding vaccine serial numbers.”
She warned that these problems might cause many family doctors to back out of the immunisation programme.
She said: “We really don’t get much out of participating. So at least make it easier for us.”
She suggested that the process be simplified by having vaccines delivered to clinics and allowing patients to walk in for vaccination.
FMT has contacted ProtectHealth and is awaiting its response.
ProtectHealth has been designated by the health ministry as the executor of the private practitioner engagement for PICK (National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme). On June 1, it said nearly 800 GPs had expressed willingness to carry out vaccinations.
“To date, over 200 private medical practitioners have already become vaccination centres,” it added.
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