KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — It might take at least four months to fully vaccinate all adults in Kota Belud, and that is if the Sabah constituency gets an extra Covid-19 inoculation centre (PPV), MP Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis told Parliament yesterday.
According to Isnaraissah, from the 74,400 adults in Kota Belud, only 17 per cent, or 12,648 people, have received at least the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Of them, 10,648 people or only 14 per cent adults have completed their vaccination.
“I did a rough calculation and found that we might need at least 127 days to complete the vaccination process in Kota Belud, with a daily average of 1,000 doses every day without fail,” Kota Belud MP Isnaraissah said in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
“Obviously we won’t be able to administer vaccine doses for 1,000 people a day in Kota Belud with the existing facilities. So we need another Covid-19 vaccination centre in Kota Belud to cater to this vaccine administration rate and it should be equipped well like the vaccination centres in urban areas,” added the Warisan MP.
In fact some other Sabah lawmakers also criticised the state’s slow Covid-19 vaccination rate, noting that registration with mobile app MySejahtera was not suitable for many rural residents.
As of July 26, only 24.4 per cent of adults in Sabah have received at least the first of the coronavirus vaccine, whereas only 13.8 per cent of adults have been inoculated completely, the lowest rates in the country.
Isnaraissah’s projected vaccination rates for her constituency, estimated to fully inoculate all adults only by end November at the earliest if an extra PPV is set up, come even as Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin previously forecast complete vaccination of a so-called 100 per cent of adults in the country by October.
Upgrade Public Health Care Facilities In Sabah
The Kota Belud MP also echoed the predicament of her constituency in terms of poor health care facilities in the battle against Covid-19.
“If there is insufficient equipment in Sandakan Hospital, for sure the patients will be transferred to Kota Kinabalu,” Isnaraissah added.
She noted that the journey from Sanadakan to Kota Kinabalu will take about five hours due to the poor road condition.
She said that the government can’t compare the absolute number of Covid-19 cases between states in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah because Sabah’s health care facilities are not up to the standard of hospitals in West Malaysia.
“Please remember that we have to treat patients with other diseases too.”
Critical Covid-19 Patients Asked To Buy Oxygen
Kota Belud MP also strongly condemned the government for asking family members of critical Covid-19 patients in the country to purchase oxygen tanks themselves.
“What are the dedicated plans of MOH (Ministry of Health) for supply and provision of oxygen tanks to be used in critical non-Covid-19 patients’ wards?”
“Some had to go into debt just to get the oxygen tank as soon as possible to save their loved ones who are in ICU,” she added.
Overcrowding in ICU has led to the shortage of oxygen supply in hospitals, she added.
Isnaraissah also asked MOH to verify the number of critical Covid-19 patients who have yet to be admitted into ICU.
PKRC In Kota Belud Serves West Coast
The Sabah lawmaker revealed that the Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) in Kota Belud is the only PKRC to cater to low-risk Covid-19 patients from the whole west coast of Sabah.
She also pointed out that the Kota Belud PKRC doesn’t have enough manpower and requested MOH to increase the staff there.
“I would like to ask the minister to explain the procurement chain for all the equipment, facilities and basic needs of all PKRCs in Sabah as I have received complaints on different qualities of food and basic needs as well as other facilities from different PKRCs,” Isnaraissah told Parliament.
“I also received information that there are insufficient facilities to take care of the patients and that includes government assets like van, lorry and 4-wheel vehicles.
“Most of the PKRC in Sabah do not have as many computers as the PKRCs in West Malaysia. In fact there is no proper phone line, which has complicated the organisational management.”
