KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry should refine its standard operating procedure (SOP) before conducting compulsory Covid-19 screening on migrant workers from all sectors.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said some of the SOP could be reviewed and ironed out to ensure a smooth implementation of the screening process.
MMA president Professor Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy urged the ministry to do some proper planning and coordination in the matter.
"While it is a good move to conduct mass screening on migrant workers, there are still a few issues that need to be tweaked.
"For example, if the plan (to conduct mass screening) is well executed, then the Public-Private Partnership initiative with the Health Ministry's 7,000 trained general practitioners (GP) will complement the efforts to curb Covid-19 transmission.
"But at the moment, the GPs are currently facing issues with the SOP put in place to use rapid test kit (RTK) Antigen swab test kits for screening. This should be reviewed so that large-scale testing can be carried out smoothly," he said in a statement today.
Dr Subramaniam said another SOP that needed to be looked into is the one where general practitioners (GPs) are tasked to send Covid-19 patients to hospitals.
"The current SOP says a Covid-19 positive patient is isolated at a clinic and is made to wait to be picked up by an ambulance or District Health Office (PKD) officers. This is not practical.
"Some patients have to wait for hours before they get to the hospitals due to heavy workload at the District Health Office, so we believe this area of the SOP needs to be looked into for better implementation."
Dr Subramaniam said it was unnecessary for the Covid-19 positive sample to be sent to the same hospital where the patient was being admitted into because it could cause more delay and increase red tape.
He said the same patient will need to undergo an RT-PCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) swab test at the hospital where they are admitted.
Further more, the inconsistency of quarantine criteria and closure of private clinics were issues repeatedly faced by private GPs.
"We have highlighted these issues to the ministry numerous times.
"In fact, recently we have brought up the issues of clinic staff members who had to undergo quarantine, even when they did not fulfil the criteria of being a close contact.
"This resulted in a number of clinics having to close down temporarily, as there was no staff to run the clinic," he said.
He said employers should alo be made aware that only RTK Antigen kits with special import approval and access by the Medical Device Authority (MDA) could be used.
"The GP clinics must also conduct a pre-assessment and keep medical records of the patients screened for Covid-19.
"Their data must be registered under Public Health Laboratory Test Result System (Simka) where certificates are generated and given to the patient with stringent Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) maintained throughout the process."
Commenting on the widespread commercialisation of Covid-19 screening, Dr Subramaniam urged the government to intervene to ensure screenings were conducted at legitimate organisations.
"We are concerned about organisations, which are are not registered with health authorities but have been providing Covid-19 swab tests to public."
"Swab tests must be performed by trained healthcare professionals or else it could affect the patients, who might face a risk of injury, health issues or obtain a false negative result if the swab tests are performed incorrectly."
Dr Subramaniam urged employers to insist on swab test certification from the facilities they collaborate with.
The MMA was currently working with the Health Ministry in training more GPs to conduct the Covid-19 swab tests.
"We anticipate another 500 (GPs) will be registering for training in the next two weeks," he said.
Members of the public can also check if any facility is registered with the Health Ministry at ww
w.medicalprac.moh.gov.my or direct their complaints or inquiries to secretary@mma.org.my for clarification.
On Nov 20, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said foreign workers from all sectors in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Labuan must undergo compulsory Covid-19 swab tests.
He said the decision was based on Health Ministry's risk assessment which showed the infection risks between them and local workers were high.