KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 – The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) has nominated five members representing private hospital conglomerates to assist the Health White Paper (HWP) Advisory Council.
The five are KPJ Healthcare Berhad group covering chief operating officer Mohamad Farid Salim; IHH Healthcare Malaysia chief operating officer Ivan Loh Ee Hoe; Columbia Asia Group managing director and chief executive officer Dr Chan Boon Kheng; Subang Jaya Medical Centre chief executive officer Bryan Lin Boon Diann; and Sunway Healthcare Group group director of finance Chelsea Cheng Chuan Shing.
“All of them have over 20 years of individual experience in private hospital management and each of these private hospital groups has been in existence between 40 to 50 years,” APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh said in a statement.
“The President and Secretary of the APHM will represent the other smaller hospital groups and stand-alone private hospitals till further notice.”
APHM also expressed hopes that Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin would be able to retain a parliamentary seat in the 15th general election and be reappointed as health minister, “as his contribution to the country’s health care has been significant, particularly during the pandemic and currently in the proposed Healthcare White Paper.”
“His efforts have augmented the foundation that was built by the previous ministers, but his courage to enhance partnership with private health care stakeholders is very commendable.”
Khairy recently said he may not run for office in the next election, after Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan told Khairy to vacate his Rembau seat for him.
“This partnership with private hospitals will have the details on how the delivering of health care could be made possible to every citizen with the best mechanism of reimbursement and creating sufficient accessibility for early treatment without any disruption to any of the existing public and private health care structures,” Dr Kuljit said.
The composition of the 13-member HWP Advisory Council – co-chaired by former Health Minister Dr S. Subramaniam and former Employees Provident Fund (EPF) CEO Shahril Ridza Ridzuan – has sparked multiple complaints about the lack of representation on the council that comprises mostly medical doctors and academics.
Sarawakian doctors’, pharmacists’ and cancer organisations at Khairy’s first HWP town hall session, held in Kuching yesterday, complained about the absence of representatives from Sarawak and Sabah, pharmacists, and patient groups.
Previously, the Malaysian Pharmacists Society, the Consumers Association of Penang, and APHM complained about the lack of pharmacists, patient and consumer groups, and health care financial experts on the HWP Advisory Council.
Note: CodeBlue initially misidentified the designations of Dr Chan Boon Kheng and Bryan Lin Boon Diann. The errors have been corrected.
