KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Nearly 3,000 patients are currently waiting for cardiothoracic surgeries at Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals, with paediatric cases facing waits as long as 21 months, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad told Parliament.
In a written Dewan Rakyat reply to Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin yesterday, Dzulkefly said a total of 2,293 adult patients are on the waiting list for cardiothoracic procedures such as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and heart valve surgery, with an average waiting time of seven months.
“For paediatric cardiothoracic surgery, there are 603 elective cases currently waiting, with an average waiting duration of 21 months,” Dzulkefly said. Combined with 2,293 adult cases, this brings the total cardiothoracic backlog to 2,896 patients across MOH hospitals.
“This service is provided at seven MOH hospitals that offer cardiothoracic surgery services. Paediatric cardiothoracic surgeries are currently carried out by adult cardiothoracic surgeons as well as referred to Institut Jantung Negara Sdn Bhd because paediatric cardiothoracic surgery specialists are still in training.”
Beyond cardiothoracic procedures, Dzulkefly revealed that 9,233 patients nationwide are waiting for cataract surgery with an average waiting duration of three months, across 56 MOH hospitals.
For kidney stone-related surgeries — specifically percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) — 2,661 patients are on the waiting list, with an average waiting time of 11 months at 13 MOH hospitals with resident urology specialists.
The health minister stressed, however, that these figures only apply to elective surgeries. “For emergency cases, surgery will be carried out as quickly as possible without compromising patient safety,” he said.
Dzulkefly said MOH is implementing various measures to reduce surgical waiting times, including expanding the hospital cluster concept and deploying surgeons to more hospitals without resident specialists to initiate services.
“In addition, inter-agency collaboration and public-private partnership programmes have also been implemented to reduce surgery waiting times,” he said.
“These include the establishment of the MAIWP-Hospital Selayang Cataract Surgery Centre, which is one of the successful collaborations between the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council and MOH to reduce cataract surgery waiting times, as well as the Healthcare Service Outsourcing Programme (HSOP). These efforts are expected to increase access and expedite surgical treatment for patients in need.”
