WE regularly hear complaints about overcharging by private hospitals, the latest being “Private hospital investigated for increasing price of masks” (The Star, May 15; online at https://bit.ly/36el1P2). The question we should ask is, “Do we really believe that private hospitals make lots of money from patients?”
Private hospitals in Malaysia and many other parts of the world are self-funded and do not get any support from government stakeholders. All revenue and profits are based on the payments collected from patients or their related parties, such as health insurance providers or as employment benefits.
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