Uggah (middle) is seen in a discussion with Dr Euphrasia (left) at the Sri Aman Civic Centre Covid-19 vaccination centre. Harden is at third left.
KUCHING (June 15): Sarawak will get the service of more doctors and nurses as well as non-medical staff to speed up its Covid-19 immunisation programme, said State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He added a committee had been formed to look at the numbers required at all 11 divisions in the state.
“Deputy State Secretary Datu Dr Sabariah Putit is handling this. We need this extra manpower to upgrade our overall vaccination capacity as we hope to complete our immunisation programme by this August,” he told a media conference after visiting the vaccination centre at Sri Aman Civic Centre yesterday.
The Deputy Chief Minister said amongst others, the state government would source from the medical faculties of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Segi College Sarawak and a nursing home.
Once the required manpower is achieved, he said Sarawak could give out around 60,000 doses each day.
Uggah was accompanied by Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Assistant Minister Datuk Francis Harden, who is also Simanggang assemblyman, during the visit.
He was also given a briefing on Sri Aman Covid-19 vaccination programme rollout plan by the divisional health officer Dr Euphrasia Bari.
On the Sri Aman Covid 19 Immunisation Task Force under Dr Euphrasia, he said he was impressed by its detailed preparations.
He advised the task force to fully use the 12,000 doses it would be given weekly.
The task force aims to vaccinate some 79,874 people in three phases and to complete the rollout by mid August.
To-date, 48,233 people in the Sri Aman and Lubok Antu districts have registered for vaccination.
The Sri Aman Division has two large vaccination centres (PPVs) – at the Sri Aman Civic Centre and the Lubok Antu District Council Sports Complex.
There are also 12 other community centres including four private clinics acting as PPVs.
According to Uggah, the task force will also reach out to 64 interior localities, of which 27 are reachable by river and 37 by land.
The Flying Doctor Service (FDS) will be used to reach out to eight other localities, he added.