Seniors secure vaccination appointments despite late registration

 By Olivia Miwil - June 7, 2021 @ 2:51pm

Recipient Lee Chee Keong, 68, received vaccine at Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu hospital. - NSTP/OLIVIA MIWIL.
Recipient Lee Chee Keong, 68, received vaccine at Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu hospital. - NSTP/OLIVIA MIWIL.

KOTA KINABALU: Patrick Voo heaved a sigh of relief after his father managed to secure a Covid-19 vaccination slot less than a week after registering on the MySejahtera application.

The 24-year-old was among the many who accompanied their elderly parents to the Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu to receive their first dose of the vaccine.

His father, 69-year-old Voo Min Hiung, was only registered for the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) four days ago.

"I registered mine in March but my father's was only four days ago. We were pleasantly surprised when he secured an appointment for today.

"The whole process from the registration up to observation was quite smooth with help from the staff," he said.

Another senior citizen, Lee Chee Keong, 68, was also relieved that he managed to secure a vaccination appointment despite registering late.

"Earlier this year, I was unable to register via MySejahtera due to some technical problems. Luckily, although I signed up three weeks ago, the system responded quickly.

"I would like to urge everyone to take the vaccine as they are safe and have been tested, so that all of us can get back to our normal lives," he said.

Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu is the first private hospital in Sabah to be given the authority to administer vaccinations for the public.

Its chief executive officer Dr Tan Bee Hwai said the hospital was honoured to be given the opportunity to deploy its resources to help the nation achieve immunisation.

"No one is safe until everyone is safe. This is an important initiative to shorten the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We hope to expand the immunisation programme as well as for now, our quota is 100 doses per day or 500 per week," he said, adding that the programme was held during weekdays between 9am until 5pm.

Dr Tan said although the list of vaccine recipients is from the Health Ministry, the hospital still helps out in terms of reminding the public of their appointments.

As for the vaccines, the hospital sources them from a nearby government hospital that serves as a storage site.

The hospital's vaccination setup, which has six stations, also involves 20 clinical and non-clinical volunteers.




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