KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — All non-Covid-19 patients admitted to private hospitals need not worry about the cost of treatment as it will be borne by the government and private entities.
Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said private hospitals are more than willing to help the government and the people in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the aim is not to profit from this but to mitigate the growing number of patients crowding public hospitals and to give them the best care possible.
“All the predetermined rates were done with plenty of discounts given to the government and both parties agreed that there will be times where there will be a little bit of loss to the private sector.
“This however is not a problem. The intention here is not to make a profit but to help the government vacate their hospitals so they are able to treat the Covid-19 patients,” Dr Kuljit said when contacted.
The government issued a directive through the Ministry of Health (MOH) stating all non-Covid patients currently warded in public hospitals be moved to private hospitals primarily for the purpose of freeing up existing medical wards to treat more severe cases of Covid-19 involving Category 3, 4 and 5 patients.
The cost of treatment for patients transferred to private healthcare institutions will be absorbed by the government up to a certain limit.
Based on the Health Ministry’s guideline for the outsourcing of non-Covid patients to private hospitals, the ceiling charge per patient is RM45,000 for surgery, RM25,000 for non-surgery, RM5,000 for follow-up and the lowest available in the ward for bed charges.
Dr Kuljit said medical procedures will be done within this pay structure and anything more than that will be discussed with both parties on how best to pick up the costs.
“Whatever procedures that are necessary will be done within that cost which both parties have agreed upon.
“For anything that goes above the RM45,000 we will look through the bills and have negotiations and discussions for each bill.
“So the public need not worry about being charged if they come in for treatment. We’re willing to make a sacrifice for everyone’s sake,” he added.
Apart from the movement of patients, the directive also stipulated that private hospitals are also not allowed to transfer the patients to another private hospital without the ministry’s approval.
The guideline also states that all patient transfers between hospitals were to be implemented by the private sector and that all patient disputes including negligence claims were to be accounted for by private hospital operators themselves.
Yesterday, Malaysia hit a record high of 199 deaths since the first movement control order in March 2020.
