Activist: Use Welfare Dept data to auto register the disabled for vaccines
The government should utilise Social Welfare Department data to register more persons with disabilities with the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP), said activists.
Putrajaya should also roll out manual and rural outreach programmes, they suggested.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun recently revealed that just 33.8 percent of the community had signed up as of May 31.
This represents 195,395 out of 577,352 people.
Rina had urged NGOs to help raise registration numbers.
V Murugeswaran heads the Damai Disabled Person Association in Petaling Jaya, which serves people with physical disabilities.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, he said NGOs...
The government should utilise Social Welfare Department data to register more persons with disabilities with the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP), said activists.
Putrajaya should also roll out manual and rural outreach programmes, they suggested.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun recently revealed that just 33.8 percent of the community had signed up as of May 31.
This represents 195,395 out of 577,352 people.
Rina had urged NGOs to help raise registration numbers.
V Murugeswaran heads the Damai Disabled Person Association in Petaling Jaya, which serves people with physical disabilities.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, he said NGOs like his were already helping those they were in contact with.
He speculated that people in rural areas, or those with little access to MySejahtera due to a lack of internet and devices, were more likely to be struggling.
One solution, Mueugeswaran proposed, was for Rina’s ministry to tap into the rich Social Welfare Department database to identify and register persons with disabilities automatically.
“I think none of them will say they don’t want it. They need some kind of assistance where their names are automatically registered.
“We have the department across the entire country, we also have it in every district. They have all their information - contact details and IC numbers. Everything is there. They just need proper coordination with the vaccination team.
“If you are waiting and encouraging people with disabilities to come out and register in MySejahtera, I think that is not the right approach at this point in time,” he said when contacted.
Murugeswaran was also concerned about how such people across categories were navigating the NIP registration process.
This included people with either physical, sight, hearing, learning, mental or speech disabilities.
Without help, he was worried that those with mental or learning disabilities would struggle to sign up to receive Covid-19 vaccines.
Manual outreach
Yeong Moh Fong is the lead coordinator at United Voice, an NGO in Petaling Jaya that promotes self-advocacy in people with learning disabilities.
She analysed that those with more severe disabilities might not be able to independently use MySejahtera to register for the NIP.
“And not everyone has access to a mobile phone,” she said, adding that internet connection could also be a challenge.
Information and perception was another issue. Yeong shared that some were afraid of needles or influenced by misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.
She proposed that the online registration system be simplified and clearly explained to persons with disabilities.
A manual registration method should also be considered.
"Another way is doing it manually,
“This will make it easier for those who do not have access to the internet, the MySejahtera app or the website,” she said.
Meanwhile, Independent Living and Training Centre president Francis Siva noted that persons with disabilities who were not connected with local NGOs could be facing an information gap.
This was especially so if they lived in rural areas that had few facilities.
“We societies might not be able to reach some people who are living in the rural areas. They will definitely not know what to do.
“Those who are not registered under any organisation might not know anything if they are not reachable,” he said.
Francis’ centre is based in Rawang and works with physically disabled persons.
He lauded the government’s recent vaccination trucks initiative and hoped this would be expanded to reach the differently-abled nationwide.
This was on top of existing target groups like people’s housing programme (PPR) residents and construction workers.
