Over 50 malls nationwide offer to be vaccination centres

Teo: PPK hopes to roll out the vaccination programme at participating malls by the end of June once approved by the ministry.

MORE than 50 shopping complexes nationwide are keen to set up a vaccination centre (PPV) on their premises under the Economic Frontliners Vaccination Programme for the retail sector.

Malaysia Shopping Malls Association (PPK) president Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok said in a statement that the initiative received good response from its members.

“It is imperative that the vaccination exercise for retail employees is expedited as this will protect our frontliners and the public.

“We appreciate that our proposal for on-site vaccination centres at malls is adopted as it is more efficient and logical for medical personnel to administer the vaccine at the site instead of retail workers taking time off to travel to vaccination centres outside, ” he said.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said on May 28 that the programme aimed to vaccinate 500,000 employees in the retail sector.

Currently, details about the programme and proposed locations to be turned into PPV are still being finalised.

Teo said he looked forward to rolling out the programme by the end of this month once it was approved by the ministry.

On May 31, internal memos from a few shopping centres offering retail workers the option to register for on-site vaccination were sent to tenants.

The memo also detailed a small fee to be borne by tenants if they chose to vaccinate their employees under this programme, where ProtectHealth Corporation (ProtectHealth) will provide doctors and nurses to administer the vaccine.

According to ProtectHealth’s website, the company has been appointed by Health Ministry as the implementer of private medical practitioners’ participation in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of ProtectHealth Malaysia established under Health Ministry, ProtectHealth is stated as a not-for-profit company that coordinates, administers and manages initiatives related to financing healthcare services as mandated by the ministry.

Nanta says they hope to vaccinate 500,000 workers under the programme for the retail sector.

A medical news portal reported that the company denied collecting payments from shopping centres purportedly rolling out Covid-19 inoculation drives with its vaccinators.

The article quoted a representative from the corporate communication unit, Khairul Faizi, who said ProtectHealth’s involvement remained the same for all vaccination centres.

“We pay private medical practitioners RM14 per dose administered.

“We don’t supply vaccines as our role is managing the private medical practitioners. The vaccine supply is done by the government similar to other vaccination centres, ” he was quoted as saying.

ProtectHealth could not be reached for comments at press time.

On the fee incurred under the programme, Teo said he was unhappy with negative comments in the media that malls were profiteering from this exercise, which was far from the truth.

“The enthusiastic participation of the malls together with the overwhelming registration by the staff and their tenants are testimonies of the urgent need for greater access to vaccination.

“Malls are paying for the fees for medical officers appointed by ProtectHealth and all other antecedent costs.

“We were also informed that the medical personnel providing their services allocated by Protect Health will charge RM15 to administer a vaccine dose.

“We estimate that the cost of providing the venue, logistics, manpower and ambulance services for the on-site vaccination centre will amount to between RM100 and RM150 per person, depending on the number of doses available each day, number of participants to be vaccinated and the duration to complete the programme.

“In the interest of the national agenda, it was decided that the malls would subsidise these costs and be allowed to charge RM20 per person for logistic costs to partially defray their expenses.

“Adding the RM30 to complete the course, a total of RM50 will be charged to participants.

“We are grateful to our malls for recognising the need to subsidise the costs to help in this national objective towards inoculating all retail frontliners to protect the shopping and retail industry as our overall CSR contribution towards the national agenda of achieving herd immunity urgently, ” he said.