THE Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia (MPCAM) is perplexed to note that while we have people in the public sector shunning available vaccines, in the private sector, especially the private primary care facilities, we have been turning away clients who want to be vaccinated.
For the past six months, the general practitioners have not been able to get vaccines and have had to refer children and adults who needed to be vaccinated to government hospitals and health clinics due to what has been told to us to be a "global shortage" due to the stoppage of production by one of the major two suppliers based in Europe.
The vaccines facing these shortages are the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP), the Hib vaccines, the polio vaccines and more recently the Hepatitis B vaccines. We hope that with these severe shortage, the Ministry of Health could issue a temporary licence to suppliers, to import these vaccines from other countries such as India, to cope with the demand in the private sector.
Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah
MPCAM
For the past six months, the general practitioners have not been able to get vaccines and have had to refer children and adults who needed to be vaccinated to government hospitals and health clinics due to what has been told to us to be a "global shortage" due to the stoppage of production by one of the major two suppliers based in Europe.
The vaccines facing these shortages are the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP), the Hib vaccines, the polio vaccines and more recently the Hepatitis B vaccines. We hope that with these severe shortage, the Ministry of Health could issue a temporary licence to suppliers, to import these vaccines from other countries such as India, to cope with the demand in the private sector.
Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah
MPCAM