Materia Medica Malaysiana

Ministry slams private hospitals for overcharging

PENANG: Some private hospitals are believed to have overcharged their patients for transfusion of blood obtained at a lower fee or for free from government hospitals, Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Lee Kah Choon said.

“I am not accusing any party but only urging private hospitals not to overcharge patients for transfusion of blood obtained from government hospitals and make a profit out of it,” he said.

He said some private hospitals asked for blood supply from government hospitals that either charged RM80 a unit or did not charge, depending on the cases.

The RM80, he said, was the cost of screening blood donated by volunteers.

He said private hospitals should only charge the amount paid to the government hospitals upon obtaining the blood supply.

“If they received the blood for free from the government hospitals, the fee on blood supply should not be included in the patients’ bills,” he said after launching a blood donation campaign organised by the Hui Yin Sen society at the Prangin Mall yesterday.

“We don’t want patients complaining that they were charged RM200 for blood transfusion, when the amount actually included other services as well,” Lee said.

He added that private hospitals should give details of charges in the bills issued to patients.