KOTA BHARU, Nov 18 — There are many next of kin of individuals, who succumbed to the COVID-19 infection, who have yet to apply for the Covid-19 Death Management Special Assistance (BKPC), said National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) director-general Datuk Dr Aminuddin Hassim.
So far, he said, only 6,000 applications have been received, although the figure is way below the recorded deaths of close to 30,000 victims.
“There are several factors for this, and one of them is that the next of kin need to produce several types of documentation from the Health Ministry (MOH),” he told a press conference after attending a briefing on the northeast monsoon preparations at Kompleks Kota Darulnaim here, today.
“Besides that, there are next of kin who have not applied (for the assistance) as they believe they do not have to bear hospitalisation costs or funeral expenses.
“Due to this, we have improved the application process which now requires only MOH documents be it letter from the hospital or death certificates.”
Aminuddin said MOH will vet applications submitted by the victim’s next of kin to determine if they are eligible. Until now, only about seven per cent of the applications have not been approved due to technical reasons.
“The victim’s next of kin may need to be patient if the application takes a long time because it needs to go through certain processes before the assistance is given.
“Applications for death assistance will be closed once the country enters the Covid-19 endemic phase. After entering this phase, the Cabinet will then decide if assistance should be continued or otherwise,” he said.
Aminuddin also said that apart from death assistance worth RM5,000, NADMA also provided daily assistance of RM100 to Covid-19 positive patients whose incomes had been affected.
“For example, a trader who is confirmed positive and unable to work for seven days due to the quarantine process, will be given assistance of RM100 a day for a maximum period of up to 14 days,” he added.
— Bernama
