KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) in collaboration with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will carry out house-to-house vaccination for bedridden patients living in the Klang Valley, an effort under the mobile clinic initiative of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).

Its advisor Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood said MRCS had mobilised its team to 111 of the 280 houses identified so far in the efforts to protect vulnerable individuals who had difficulty making the trip to COVID-19 vaccination centres to get their jabs.

"The number of doses per household depends on the family members (of the patients) who have not received their shots because we will protect the patients as well as the people around them," she said when met after the programme launch today.

Dr Jemilah urged the public to contact the nearest health centres and provide information on the vulnerable individuals in their households to utilise this home visit vaccination service.

She said the Ministry of Health had instructed health clinics nationwide to collect data on the vulnerable groups to facilitate the vaccination process.

In conjunction with the launch today, five patients and 13 families from five households around Ampang received their COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr Jemilah, who is the Special Advisor to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on public health said the NGOs involved in carrying out the initiative were St John Ambulance Malaysia, MERCY Malaysia, IMAM Response and Relief Team, Malaysian Relief Agency and the National Cancer Society Malaysia.

Meanwhile, MRCS chairman Tan Sri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Almarhum Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, who was also present, said the initiative was in line with its objective of providing healthcare to the needy and jeopardised communities.

-- BERNAMA