CHIEF Minister Chow Kon Yeow has urged the Federal Government to consider ramping up vaccination capacity at Covid-19 vaccination centres (PPVs) set up in private hospitals as they are able to administer more doses than they are now doing daily.
“For example, it is believed that Gleneagles Hospital Penang, which currently administers 100 doses daily, is able to increase its vaccination capacity to 200 doses.
“Previously, it was also mentioned that Lam Wah Ee Hospital was able to accommodate a higher capacity of 300 to 400 doses daily from its initial 200 doses.
“Although there could be challenges, this clearly shows that participating private hospitals are very keen on helping the authorities to make the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) a success,” Chow said after visiting the PPV at Gleneagles Hospital Penang in George Town today.
According to Chow, there are seven private hospitals and 19 private clinics actively running as PPVs in the state.
During a brief press conference at Gleneagles, Chow has also called for more support from the private healthcare sector to participate in this nationwide effort for the state to achieve herd immunity by the end of October this year.
“The state government has been receiving requests from private clinics that wish to operate as PPVs, but at the same time, we encourage even more to come in and give us a helping hand,” he said.
Earlier, Chow had visited the PPV at Penang Adventist Hospital.
There, he said the state government has taken the necessary steps to expedite the state-level NIP.
Some of the steps include increasing the number of PPVs, and permission to increase the capacity as well as the manpower to spur the vaccination programme.
“The state government has paid heed to the call by the Federal Government to accelerate the immunisation programme by adding the number of PPVs in the state. We have also increased the number of volunteers to administer the vaccines.
“We will keep improving, but the most important factor for this programme to be successful is the cooperation from all parties,” Chow told a brief press conference at Penang Adventist Hospital.
The Adventist PPV, which operates five days a week from Monday to Friday, is able to accommodate between 50 and 100 vaccine recipients per day.
He also said the state government would be announcing the setup of new PPVs in the state very soon.
“There are a few more PPVs waiting for the green light from the Federal Government, including proposals from two non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“We are happy that the private sectors and NGOs are joining hands with the state government to accelerate the immunisation programme,’’ Chow added.
Meanwhile, state Secretary Datuk Abdul Razak Jaafar said the state government is currently collaborating with several parties to come with up mobile vaccination units (MVUs) to administer vaccine doses.
“As mentioned before, this initiative will cater mainly for the hard-to-reach communities.
“Apart from that, we are also in a discussion to use the PPV in Sungai Bakap which caters to the public, to be used for workers in the industrial sector.
“But before we can do that, we need to get approval from the Federal Government as it involves some procedures,” Abdul Razak added.
Among those present were state Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin, Gleneagles chief executive officer (CEO) Ivan Loh and Penang Adventist CEO Ronald Koh.
Story by Kevin Vimal and Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Muhamad Amir Irsyad Omar and Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Law Suun Ting and Chan Kok Kuan