LETTER | The Health director-general has announced that those who test positive will now be followed up through MySejahtera app.

As a covid-19 positive patient, and with others in my house testing positive too, I would like to share that the actual experience is not only bad, but the system is not up to date at all. This renders the system useless.

First, let me provide some context. I started having symptoms on Jan 6 and took a swab test at a private hospital on Jan 8. On Jan 10, I was informed I tested positive.

The Health Ministry called me on the same day, and I was picked up and sent to the Sungai Buloh low-risk quarantine centre on the same day. On Jan 15, I returned home after being given a clean bill of health and discharged.

If anything, I should be categorised as a recovered patient. In other words, I cannot infect anyone now. For the record, out of an abundance of caution, I am self-isolating for a few more days.

And now my MySejahtera experience. During my entire stay at the hospital, my status remained as low-risk and not positive on the app.

I only received a text message on Jan 15 to say that I am Covid-19 positive and that my profile will be updated. My status was updated by the app only today (Jan 16). Note that I am already discharged.

The app, however, says that I am Covid-19 positive and asymptomatic as of Jan 16, 2021. The information is clearly wrong, and it appears that I will be categorised wrongly for some days going forward. I will be alarming people unnecessarily should I choose to go out.

As for my wife and son, who were tested positive on Jan 12, the app (now on their fourth day) still shows that they are not Covid-19 positive.

The point I am making is that only a well-designed app with a database that is connected in real-time with the MOH database will be useful in the fight against covid. Otherwise, the app will be lagging along uselessly many days behind the real-time situation. It will not be helpful to patients who are infected and will inconvenience those who have recovered.

What does it take to have MySejahtera run like a modern app? A time machine is only good for historical records. Why is it so difficult for the company that got the contract to build MySejahtera to come up with a useful real-time application?