THE government should discontinue the use of the MySejahtera check-in function as it is no longer deemed useful for contact tracing, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said today.

As the nation transitions into the endemic phase of Covid-19 and with the virus’ current high transmission rate, MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai said the scanning function had lost its earlier usefulness.

“As we are transitioning towards an endemic phase of Covid-19, it is time that we consider a halt to the scanning of MySejahtera each time we enter (a venue),” he said in a statement today.

“With the (high) number of positive cases, contact tracing will not be adopted on a wide scale as it will not yield the expected results.”

On Monday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the government had no plans to do away with the check-in function for now. 

He said the government might get rid of the function later but did not say when.

Yesterday, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii also said that MySejahtera’s check-in function was irrelevant as the country transitions into the endemic phase.

He said Putrajaya should phase out check-ins with the app, which Covid-19 contact-tracing task now had “little epidemiological value”.

Koh did not recommend scrapping the function but asked it to be preserved as it could be useful in the event of a new pandemic.

Since the MySejahtera app has been adopted by a large number of the population, Koh suggested that it could be put to better use.

He, however, expressed concern over the recent privacy controversy surrounding the app and urged the government to resolve the problem to regain the trust of the people.

“The MySejahtera application can be adapted to be used as a personal health record as it is already linked to individual IDs and is nontransferable. 

“The worry would be security of the data. Looking at what is being shared on social media about the ownership of this application, it is hoped that the government will continue being proactive in securing the trust of the people in the application with the hope that it can ultimately be used in the management of health records in the move towards an effective healthcare system for the country,” he said. 

Koh said country lacked a centralised management system for the health records of the population and suggested that MySejahtera be used for that. 

“There is a need for an electronic medical record system that is secure and accessible to healthcare providers (to provide) seamless care for the people.

“The MySejahtera application may be utilised as an initial effort to have a health record that can be carried by the individual to allow for access by healthcare providers as and when needed.”