MALACCA: Malacca will introduce, among others, the Digital Village and Community Paramedic programme next year to help improve the lives of the people in the state, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusof (pix).

He said the Digital Village programme aims to lift the standard of the traditional villages by equipping every house with a more accurate address compared to the general addresses that still use mileage.

“Currently, many houses still use mileage, where it is shared en masse without a specific address.

“Under that system, letters will be left in general focal areas like grocery shops or eateries, thus making delivery a difficult task in certain areas,” he told reporters outside the Malacca State Legislative Assembly sitting in Seri Negeri here today.

Ab Rauf said the state government wants to transform that through collaboration with the Registration Department and District Office to identify the change of address in each house.

“After the identification process is done, the houses which are given new addresses will receive a QR code and digital location, which can be scanned using smartphones as well as specific e-mail addresses, using the @melaka.my domain,” he said.

Ab Rauf said that, so far, the pilot project had been implemented in Kampung Pulau and Kampung Seri Jeram for Alor Gajah; Kampung Tanjung Minyak and Kampung Paya Rumput for Melaka Tengah; and Kampung Lipat Kajang and Kampung Tersusun Datuk Md Hidhir, Lipat Kajang in Jasin.

As for the Community Paramedic programme, Ab Rauf said the state government would cooperate with the Ministry of Health, Civil Defence Force and St John Ambulance to train three volunteers in each village to undergo basic medical emergency training.

He said the paramedics would be supplied with medical bags containing medicines, which would be useful to provide early treatment to any resident in their areas who suffers from health-related emergencies.

“These 10 Community Paramedic volunteers will also be placed at tourism hotspots in conjunction with the Visit Malacca Year 2924 (TMM2024) to provide emergency treatment to tourists who may have health issues.

“The state government encourages medical practitioners living in the villages to participate in this programme and we are thinking of suitable incentives that can be given to these volunteers,” he said. -Bernama