‘Look into need to build more specialist hospitals’
KUALA LUMPUR: The lack of specialist hospitals is among the issues that need to be looked into by the government ahead of the 2019 Budget.
This was to address the surplus of junior doctors and housemen in the country, said I-Medik vicepresident Associate Professor Dr Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar.
Rafidah said the situation had forced many housemen to wait between six months and a year for vacancies at existing hospitals.
She said even though the country had around 139 hospitals, not all could meet the requirements to train housemen.
“With the increase of students and graduates from local and foreign medical colleges, the matter is becoming complicated.
“Some are forced to find other jobs while waiting for their turn to be called up for training. I hope this matter can be looked into by the government,” she said yesterday.
The 2019 Budget is expected to be tabled on Nov 2.
On the government’s proposal to provide insurance to those in the Bottom 40 per cent income bracket, Dr Rafidah said it should be studied to benefit the people.
“The government needs to have proper guidelines on this, apart from the need to determine the number of people who go to hospital in a year and the amount allocated for this purpose, among others.
“At the same time, I hope the government will continue to provide medical subsidies to the people as our healthcare services are among the best in the world.”
On the price of medicine, she said the rising cost of living had prompted many to switch from private to government hospitals when seeking treatment and this had affected the hospital staff.
“We need a budget that covers public healthcare services for the people to receive the best treatment, and this is important to address the issue of non-productivity due to chronic illnesses.
“Investment in the public healthcare sector is important for the country’s savings in the long run, and this has been proven in developed countries.”
She hoped the government would be able to increase the number of cluster hospitals to complement district hospitals.
“The combination of medical expertise from several hospitals will particularly benefit those in the rural areas, such as the cluster hospitals in Sabah.”