KL Sentral industry PPV opens for railway workforce

Working visit: Dr Wee (in suit) visiting the Industry Vaccination Centre at KL Sentral Station to inspect the facility in Kuala Lumpur.

PETALING JAYA: About 1,451 employees of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) will benefit from the newly opened KL Sentral industry vaccination centre (PPV), says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

The Transport Minister said the industry PPV would also benefit KTMB’s subsidiaries Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd and KTM Distribution as well as 390 employees of ERL and ERL Maintenance Support Sdn Bhd.

“They are largely frontline staff who have yet to receive their first vaccine dose.

“The KTMB staff who will be vaccinated at this industry PPV are those stationed along its corridor from Tanjung Malim to Gemas.

“KTMB will be transporting its staff from the other stations on a special charter train to KL Sentral,” Dr Wee said in a statement yesterday.

The programme was approved by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) on July 19 and is a joint initiative by the Transport Ministry together with the Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry and the Health Ministry.

The space is located at the KLIA Ekspres Arrival Hall, KL Sentral and provided by Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL).

A total of 40 KTMB and ERL employees will also work as volunteers to assist with crowd and queue control, logistics and registration.

Dr Wee, who visited the industry PPV in KL Sentral yesterday, said KTMB planned to set up more industry PPV at other strategic locations to benefit its staff in the northern and southern regions as well as the East Coast.

As of Sunday, four industry PPV for the transport sector have started operating to support the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

The first industry PPV at Port Klang for the maritime sector and the second one at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for the aviation transport sector have benefited a total of 32,243 recipients.

“Two more facilities for the land public transport sector were opened last week at the Putra Heights LRT Station and Cheras Selatan Rapid Bus Complex on July 19 and July 21, respectively, involving 5,512 rail and bus service employees,” Dr Wee said.

The ministry is also in the process of obtaining approval to open additional industry PPV for the transport sector in Johor, Penang, Pahang, Terengganu, Perak and Selangor.

Additional doses for Port Klang to expedite vaccination for seafarers, port workers and logistics sector employees are also in the same process of approval.

This initiative is estimated to benefit more than 54,000 transport sector workers nationwide.