Enforcement Of Private Healthcare Regulation After Fine-Tuning

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- After almost eight years of the enactment of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998, the Health Ministry, medical practitioners and dentists Thursday agreed to the implementation of the regulation after it has been fine-tuned.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said some adjustments were made to suit the needs of the present situation instead of the situation 13 years ago when the law was first mooted.
"The Ministry of Health would like to stress that there is no compromise where patients' rights, safety and quality of healthcare are concerned," he told reporters after a meeting between the ministry and the Malaysian Medical Association and Malaysian Dental Association at the ministry, here.
He said provisions to protect patients' rights, for example the right to know, to consent, to air their grievances, to receive emergency treatment and quality care remained unchanged.

The adjustments involved:

* Provision of public telephones in the clinics is no longer required as most people carry mobile phones and clinics have fixed line telephones that could be used during emergency.

* All clinics are no longer required to have generator sets except those performing major operations.

* For registration of clinics and hospitals, only the annual practising certificate (APC) is now required instead of both the (APC) and the full registration certificate, thus the need to produce a police report if one loses his full registration is no longer required.

* Certificate of Fitness for Occupancy and Fire Department certificate may be substituted with a copy of the current assessment rate, and accurate scale floor plan is no longer required and can be replaced with a sketch plan that includes dimensions of physical structures for the registration.

* Requirement for two referees to attest to the character of doctors is no longer required for the registration.

* Particulars on staff members other than medical or dental practitioners employed by clinics are no longer required.

* Clinics are not required to report social or welfare contribution activities to the ministry.

* Minor structural non-conformity to the specifications will be given up to one year to be rectified after the date of registration.

* The Director-General may now give reasons for a refusal of a license or registration.

Dr Chua said necessary amendments to the regulation would be done in due course.
He said the end of November deadline for registration requirement would stay and would not be extended and all State Health Departments had been instructed to facilitate the applications for registration and not to reject them.
The act, he said, intended to ensure the provision of a minimum standard of healthcare services to the rakyat.
"With this clarification, the ministry hopes that doctors and dentists will not delay in registering their clinics," he said.
Dr Chua stressed that the enforcement of the regulation would be headed by a medical practitioner and not just an ordinary enforcement officer.
Asked whether there was a compromise reached by the three parties, the minister said: "It was not a compromise. It is a fine-tuning of the regulation so that the act can be implemented and doctors and dentists can comply with the act."
Malaysian Medical Association president Datuk Dr Teoh Siang Chin said the agreement reached today would eliminate many unregistered medical practitioners and ensure the needs of medical practitioners were taken care of.
"The act ensures good quality practices. We are happy with what we have achieved today," said Malaysian Dental Association president Dr Wong Foot Meow.