MySejahtera Has “Outlived Its Usefulness”: MMA Calls For Halt To Check-Ins As We Enter Endemic Phase

By Quinny Tan  •  31 Mar 2022 in News

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With the rising concerns on the ownership of the MySejahtera application, certain sectors believe that the app which we heavily rely on in our daily lives may have “outlived its usefulness”.

Recently, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said that MySejahtera may have “outlived its usefulness” as a contact tracing application.

In a statement, MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai said that the app’s scanning feature for the purpose of contact tracing is no longer as useful as it was in the earlier phases of the pandemic.

1. MySejahtera may have “outlived its usefulness” as a contact tracing application, says the Malaysian Medical Association.

President Dr Koh Kar Chai says it may be time to reconsider the need to scan a QR code every time a person enters a premise. https://t.co/3rXlZ0LR7Q pic.twitter.com/XWfF09xez1

— BFM News (@NewsBFM) March 30, 2022

He also called for an end to the use of the MySejahtera app for contact tracing purposes, saying that it may have now outlived its 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 premise, especially when we complete the phase of transition.

“The use of MySejahtera allowed contact tracing to be done during the height of the pandemic, a feat that would have been impossible without the MySejahtera app. However, it may have outlived its usefulness as a contact tracing app,” he explained.

Koh said that the app can be put to better use as it has been adopted by a large number of the population from the young to the old across the country.

He also stressed however that the contact tracing feature should still be preserved as it is not known when the next pandemic will turn up.

Furthermore, he explained that it can be adapted to be used as a personal health record as it is already linked to individual identities of users and is non-transferable.

In a report by Berita Harian, the MySejahtera app witnessed a reduction of 26% or 6.3 million in the check-in rate since the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised the issue of the app’s ownership.

The drop in the number of check-ins was recorded after the PAC report raised questions on the safety of user data and transparency in the development of the app.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also said the ministry would first need to monitor the pattern of mobility versus infection within the next few weeks.

“As we reopen the borders and ease restrictions in the fasting month, we would need to see if there are any drastic changes in the mobility and infection patterns for the next few weeks.

“If there are no significant fluctuations, then we can drop (MySejahtera check-ins).”

The health ministry’s GitHub portal recorded 24,358,225 check-ins on Friday (25 March). This dropped to 20,106,659 on Saturday, 19,279,238 on Sunday and 18,038,569 on Monday, which was the lowest since 22 August last year.