PETALING JAYA: Thiran, who has been a civil servant for 35 years, struggles to walk every day and his doctors told him he needs knee replacement surgery on both legs, which costs RM50,000.
His only viable option is a government hospital but the only available slot for the procedure is in 2028.
“My knees are worn out. I struggle to walk every day and I need to put up with this for the next three years. The waiting list is long and I was told that I might get an earlier slot if another patient pulls out.
“The cost is more than RM50,000 at private hospitals. How I wish I could afford it,” said the officer who will retire from civil service in less than a year.
Thiran’s experience is reflective of the urgent need for the government to deliver on its promises of reducing wait times and improving the quality of care at public medical facilities.
Ahmad, a retired police officer, was recently diagnosed with cancer and is getting treatment at a government hospital.
“Each time I am warded, I get limited attention as the staff are swamped with work and need to attend to a non-stop flow of patients,” he said.
Publishing executive A. Zulkifli related how his 74-year-old aunt waited almost an entire day to be admitted at Hospital Kuala Pilah.
“She went there in the morning (on Feb 3). It was only at about 7pm that she was finally given a bed,” he claimed.
Healthcare experts such as Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh argued that the government can tackle these problems by roping in private clinics to perform non-urgent procedures, diagnostics and routine medical care.
“Services such as screening and preventive healthcare at general practitioner clinics can help lower the burden on government hospitals,” said Dr Sharifa Ezat of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
She said scaling up initiatives such as the Peka B40 and Madani medical scheme may reduce wait times to be admitted to wards and lessen the burden on public health clinics.
Peka B40 is a scheme for low-income families to receive free medical check-ups at participating private clinics, aid for medical devices and cancer treatments. This approach will off-load non-critical cases in public facilities so that public hospitals can focus on critical cases, especially in emergency rooms, more efficiently, she added.
“We do not want acute conditions to worsen due to delays. There are a high number of private clinics and we should tap into them,” Dr Sharifa Ezat said.
Another public healthcare expert, Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar, agrees that outsourcing healthcare to the private sector appears to be the only solution until the government overcomes shortcomings at public hospitals.
“Maldistribution of staff is occurring at hospitals due to a lack of manpower. There may be an expansion of facilities but it is not in tandem with the number of staff,” said Dr Zainal Ariffin, a former Health Ministry official.
He added that the government must pay staff at public hospitals fairly and provide a better working environment to prevent them from leaving for the private sector.
Former lecturer Assoc Prof Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy said although private hospitals are profit-oriented, they should play a humanitarian role to assist the government in reducing over-crowding.
“The growing focus on profit over patient welfare is eroding trust in the private healthcare system and diminishing the respect we once had for the medical profession,” he said.
