36 hospitals threatened with shutdown

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Thirty-six private hospitals, including some well-known ones in the Klang Valley, will be shut down if they do not renew their operating licences within a month.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, in issuing the warning yesterday, said the hospitals that failed to comply would also be taken to court.
Private hospitals must renew their licences with the ministry every two years.
The errant hospitals are mostly located here, Selangor and Johor.
"These hospitals have not even applied for their licences to be renewed," he said.
Dr Chua said this at a function where the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) was given the Malaysia Society for Quality in Health (MSQH) Accreditation Status from July, 2005 to July 22, 2008.
After getting private clinics to register, his ministry is now turning to the country’s 237 private hospitals to ascertain if they were licensed and adhering to the requirements stipulated in the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act.
He said discussions were also in progress to appoint members for the visitors boards in private hospitals as it was through these boards that the ministry could get feedback from the community on the hospitals’ services.
Dr Chua said private hospitals must have the visitors boards to hear public complaints from next year.
"We have lots of complaints on private hospital charges and payment demands," he added.
Earlier in his speech, Dr Chua said 60 out of the 129 government hospitals had been conferred the MSQH accreditation status compared with only 17 out of the 237 private hospitals.
He said the accreditation status was another feather in the cap of the 136-year-old HKL.
Last year, 124,570 patients were admitted to the hospital. It also gave outpatient treatment to 700,806 people.
"Malaysians strongly believe in the hospital’s 64 services which also comprise sub-specialisations," Dr Chua said.
MSQH board member Datuk K. Kulaveerasingam said one of the objectives of the accreditation programme was to ensure that the quality of health services nationwide was continuously upheld and service management competency was improved.