Materia Medica Malaysiana

Government ‘dissatisfied’ with foreign doctors

PENANG: Malaysia spends RM40mil a year on foreign doctors but is not getting the expected standard of healthcare service from them, the Health Ministry said.

Parliamentary secretary Lee Kah Choon said between 10% and 20% of the 700 foreign doctors in the country had to be repatriated because of sub-standard performance.

“We are looking into employing more doctors from Myanmar as most of them meet our expectation. This could be due to the British system still used in their medical curriculum.

“We need to employ foreign doctors to fill the shortage (in the healthcare service). But at the same time, we do not want to be compromised by sub-standard doctors,” he told reporters during a visit to the Penang Hospital yesterday.

He said the foreign doctors employed currently were from countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Egypt.

Lee said one-stop ambulance call centres would be set up in eight locations including Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Perlis and Johor Baru by the end of the month.

Penang Hospital Emergency Department head Dr Teo Aik Howe said the Penang Emergency Ambulance Radio Link (PEARL) would start by the end of the year to link all ambulance operators in the state.

Among those involved in the PEARL project were the state health department, Penang Hospital, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission, Penang Municipal Council and Motorola.

He said the department planned to set up motorcycle squads, which will provide first aid to those who need it urgently while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Lee said ambulances from health clinics would, starting next week, be used to help in emergencies, adding that such a community-based ambulance service would ease the burden on government hospitals.