Tuesday January 30, 2007
Set up visitors board in hospitals
PUTRAJAYA: Private hospitals with 50 beds and above are required to set up a Board of Visitors, failing which their licences will not be renewed.
The Health Minister will choose the board members from among active and respectable members of the community.
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the board would look into patients’ grievances and bring them to the attention of the hospital.
“We are finalising the terms before the members of the boards are selected,” he said, adding that such facilities were among the terms spelled out for the renewal of licences.
“It is part of private hospitals’ corporate social responsibility; other types of services to society can be in the form of offering discounts and free health screening.”
Dr Chua said the licence renewal was not automatic as the hospitals had to follow guidelines under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 which came into force last year.
“They must tell us their social responsibility programme, and it must be acceptable to us,” he said after attending a second dialogue with the management of private hospitals here yesterday.
Dr Chua, who said 46 complaints on inadequate facilities, bad services and high fees were received last year, reminded patients that they were entitled to itemised billing under the Act.
He noted that two doctors from separate private hospitals had submitted false curriculum vitae to the management while one hospital that was given ISO accreditation did not have a certificate of fitness.
He said investigations would be carried out on all complaints before licences for the affected hospitals were renewed.
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