A community NGO working with such people in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, said aside from not having identity cards or passports, many did not have smartphones and were therefore unable to use the mySejahtera app.
Founder of Pertubuhan Kesihatan dan Kebajikan Umum Malaysia (PKKUM) Elisha Kor Krishnan told FMT this was the reason they began their vaccination programme, in collaboration with Mercy Malaysia, for this “hidden” population.
They have so far managed to register and vaccinate about 520 people, including foreigners.
This includes 400 who walked in for vaccination from Oct 21 to Oct 26 at the PKKUM centre. The NGO helped another 120, who knew their IC or birth certificate numbers, to register for vaccination appointments via MySejahtera.
Elisha said she became aware of the problem faced by this group of people when carrying out soup kitchen activities during the movement control order period from March 18, 2020.
“We asked them if they were vaccinated or had been registered to get the vaccine. Many said no. So we decided to help them get vaccinated,” she said.
She said most of the stateless and undocumented people who had sought help from them were born under bridges in the city to homeless parents or drug addicts, or in cheap rented houses to parents who themselves were undocumented.
“We just cannot find evidence to say they were born in Malaysia so that we can help them register with the national registration department,” she said.
Masniza Mustaffa of Mercy Malaysia, who is the health coordinator for the programme, said those from this community lacked access to healthcare facilities.
“The awareness about their health is there, but the circumstances that they are in hinder them from seeking medical attention,” she told FMT.
“In terms of empowerment, there are a lot of NGOs and soup kitchens that work specifically with this population. So they are empowered, but probably they don’t have the means to get themselves there, including not having transportation to go to where the clinic is located.”
She hoped that Mercy Malaysia and NGOs such as PKKUM would be able to contact the remaining people who were missed out from the national vaccination rollout, now that most adults in the Klang Valley, especially in Kuala Lumpur, had been vaccinated.