KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 – The government is providing an additional RM4 billion, specifically to the Ministry of Health (MOH), to continue the agenda to address COVID-19 as the fight againsgt the pandemic is still not over.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the amount included RM2 billion for vaccination programmes to fund vaccination programs and the remaining to increase the capacity of public health service facilities, such as purchase of medicines, consumables, personal protective clothing (PPE) and health kits.
“In the spirit of the Malaysian Family, the MOH has also outsourced to private hospitals and hospitals supervised by other ministries to optimise health capacity in the country,” he said when tabling the 2022 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said the government also planned to procure antiviral drugs that are found to be effective against various viruses, including COVID-19, to continue to win in the fight against the pandemic.
The National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) would be further strengthened to supply the third dose as a booster dose for adults, as well as to continue with the vaccination for those aged 12 to 17 years.
He said the government had signed an agreement to get 88 million doses, which is equivalent to more than 140 percent of the population and enough to give a third dose to all residents aged 12 years and above.
Tengku Zafrul said the government also planned to provide individual tax relief and tax deduction to employers on costs associated with taking self-funded booster vaccine shots.
Meanwhile, he also expressed his appreciation to all Members of Parliament for unanimously agreeing to allow the use of the National Trust Fund for procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine.
