Saturday July 28, 2007
Two government hospitals to adopt ‘full-paying patient’ concept
MUAR: The Putrajaya Hospital and the Selayang Hospital in Selangor will be the first public hospitals in the country to adopt the “full-paying patient” concept.
The service provides patients with the option of being treated by specialists of their choice in an executive or first-class facility and be charged accordingly.
There had been a significant number of well-to-do patients seeking treatment from government specialists who paid the minimal rate and enjoyed the subsidised treatments.
The full-paying patient scheme is one way of addressing this inadequacy and, in addition, will help provide better incentives and remuneration for specialists and encourage them to continue working in government hospitals.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the move would help to curb medical specialists from government hospitals from joining the private sector.
He said the two hospitals would begin offering the concept from Aug 1.
Speaking to reporters here, Dr Chua said the move was also aimed at attracting specialists who had left government hospitals to serve in the private sector.
“We are losing about 50% or about 100 of our specialist doctors every year, who resign to join the private hospitals.
“We hope this approach will enable the hospitals to allocate some additional incentives for the specialist doctors,” he said after visiting drainage and road projects in Bentayan here on Thursday.
Dr Chua said the ministry picked the two hospitals as they have excellent facilities to treat liver related illnesses, hand surgery, breast cancer and endocrine diseases, among others.
He said many who could afford it sought treatment at these hospitals, but without the full-paying patient concept, they only paid the minimal rate and enjoyed subsidised treatment.
Dr Chua said it was unfair as the government subsidy was meant for patients who could not afford to pay the full amount for the treatment of such illnesses.
He said the cost would be similar to those charged by the private hospitals and consistent with schedules outlined by the Malaysian Medical Association, but with some discount.
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