The Malaysian Medical Association emblem is seen at their headquarters in Kuala Lumpur November 13, 2019. — Malay Mail photo
KUCHING (Sept 29): Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is urging the government to work on the much-needed healthcare reforms immediately.
Its president Dr Koh Kar Chai said MMA believes that initiation of reforms can happen if given the right support, noting that the current Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has also been talking about the need for healthcare reforms.
He said while the matter should be debated in Parliament, it must not be all words and no action. As such, he said both sides of the political divide need to realise that the time for action is now.
“Hopefully, we don’t need another pandemic to tell us that we have been forewarned. The 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) has touched on various aspects of healthcare but is it enough? Being included in the 12MP should mean that it has all been thought through and well debated.
“However, some quarters have come out to say that it is not enough and that more should have been included. Without commenting on this, MMA says, ‘Work on the reforms immediately’,” he said in a statement today.
Dr Koh said that raging on social media at present is the issue of astronomical hospital bills that one may incur for Category 5 Covid-19 infection if the case is managed at a private hospital.
He added that the amounts quoted have been around several hundred thousand ringgit.
“Not having access to the actual cost incurred by the hospital and not having sighted the breakdown of the total hospital bill, MMA is not in a position to say if the bill is justified or not.
“It does however bring into light the high cost of medical care which has been increasing and will definitely continue to increase, maybe exponentially so. Some users of public healthcare services may not realise it but the cost is high in the public sector too. We don’t see this cost as public healthcare is heavily subsidised by the government,” he said.
Dr Koh said that the cost of private healthcare may hardly be a dent in the bank accounts of the few at top of the income bracket, but it is not so for the majority.
“For the majority who are paying out of their own pocket or rely on a meagre health insurance, a catastrophic health event will be a major blow to them with many hardly surviving the economic disaster, let alone recovering from the illness and being too sick to raise the money for the bill.
“We are all too familiar now with Covid-19 as well as the other income draining diseases like renal failure and cancer, to name a few. There are also other rare and novel diseases which need specialised medication on a long term-basis, which also breaks the bank due to the high prolonged cost,” he said.
Dr Koh pointed out that these may not be covered by medical insurance schemes unless a person is fortunate enough to have the means to purchase a high cost insurance scheme with almost unlimited benefits, which is out of the reach of most.
“To get into the public health system for such treatments is possible and the Ministry of Health does provide for it, though understandably, there is a long waiting list and some may not survive it.
“We need to wake up now to the reality that a reform of our healthcare system is needed immediately. We need to fix it now before more fall along the wayside on the journey to obtain much needed healthcare,” he said.