Materia Medica Malaysiana

Fomca ‘no’ to private wings

PETALING JAYA: Look for other ways to prevent the brain drain of specialists and doctors because the setting up of private wings in government hospitals is not the solution, said Fomca president Prof Datuk Hamdan Adnan.

Among the ways he suggested was to pay salaries and bonuses that matched the practitioner’s speciality or extend the contract period for those bonded by government scholarships.

“Why is there a need for private wings? It is just encroaching on the Government. We should leave it to the private sector. It also uses government facilities and setting up such wards would mean taking up the area meant for the general public,” he said yesterday.

He said that those who had received medical scholarships from the Government also had the obligation to “give back to the community”.

Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said on Thursday his ministry was looking into the feasibility of setting up private wings in government hospitals to halt the brain drain of specialists and doctors.

There are private wings at the University Malaya Medical Centre and Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

HUKM’s hospital director and consultant endocrinologist Prof Datuk Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir said the move was a long awaited one.

Dr Khalid, who set up the private wing at HUKM, added that the trick was to ensure that doctors did not spend too much time in the private wings.

“They are government doctors first and then in their extra time work privately. They must not take time off from their public service,” he said, adding that while the HUKM private wing had not prevented doctors and specialists from leaving, some nevertheless continued working at the hospital.

CAP medical advisor Dr T. Jayabalan said there were also infrastructure issues to consider. “There is a shortage of upper class wards even in public hospitals, so how do we accommodate the influx of patients into the public hospitals? This could lead to depriving the poor patient and converting the beds for the use of privatised wings.”

Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia president Datuk Dr Ridzwan Bakar said that a position paper on the matter would be submitted to the Health Ministry.

“In the 1960s, government doctors were allowed to see private patients but this practice was ceased due to various reasons,” he said