A new government health app, done right, may not have 38 million registered users, but it will mean keeping the bigger national digital health agenda alive.
In a CodeBlue poll, 71% of respondents believe their personal data on MySejahtera is accessible to both government and private companies; 57% won’t use MySejahtera to keep their personal health records.
Public health experts say occurrence of infectious diseases doesn't necessarily mean higher risk and not all case numbers besides zero should be perceived as alarming.
HFMD outbreaks this year, totalling 767 outbreaks (22,463 cases) up to April 30, mostly occurred in kindy and preschools at 72%; almost half of nation’s outbreaks reported in Klang Valley.
Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman recommends safer Hari Raya practices like staggered visits, opening windows, and pre-visit testing, especially with older people, kids, and those with underlying conditions.
Anwar Ibrahim fears “there is reason to believe that the people are being misled” about the servers that MySejahtera data has been stored on, asking for a full audit with data forensics.
Dr Mahesh Appannan says lots of people put in work to build MySejahtera into where the app is right now with 38 million users and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
The MySejahtera app will have an Infectious Disease Tracker to detect hotspots for other diseases such as rabies, measles, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and dengue.
Khairy Jamaluddin says it’s better for all parties to get certainty when the government finalises the MySejahtera contract that is being directly awarded to MySJ Sdn Bhd.