KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — The government’s “Reset” agenda led by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to curb medical inflation may force Malaysian specialist doctors to emigrate overseas, said a doctors’ association.
Association of Specialists in Private Medical Practice Malaysia (ASPMP) president Dr BS Gendeh said capping the costs of private health care services will affect private medical specialists, who won’t be able to make a comfortable living, commensurate with their expertise, in the long term.
“When the young doctor realises that it is difficult to get a permanent job in the government services, and equally difficult to receive training to be a specialist and subspecialist, followed by a lack of prospect either as a family practitioner or as a specialist, they will leave for greener pastures, while the trained and skilled Malaysian practitioners who are abroad will hesitate to return to serve the nation,” said Dr Gendeh in a statement.
“We appeal to various governing bodies from Bank Negara, Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Parliament to rethink seriously ahead their ‘Reset’ agenda, so that two or three decades from now, we do not sink back to a third world country status, with respect to health care, due to a lack of doctors and specialists.”
BNM’s Reset strategy to control private health care costs includes creating a basic medical and health insurance/takaful (MHIT) product, mandating price transparency, enhancing interoperability of electronic medical records (EMR), establishing Rakan KKM private wings in public hospitals, and imposing a diagnosis-related groups (DRG) payment model.
ASPMP pointed out that since the enactment of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998, Malaysia has made a clear distinction between private health care and public services. Since 1974, the growth of private medical centres has been “phenomenal”, said ASPMP, that boosted Malaysia’s international image as Malaysian private medical centres are comparable to that of developed nations.
“Malaysia has consistently been cited as among the top best places to retire in the world, among the reasons being the good expertise and affordable private health care.”
ASPMP said private health care providers have been unfairly blamed for “overcharging”, even though general practitioner (GP) and specialist consultation fees have been capped at the same rate since 1992 (RM10-RM35) and 2013 (RM80-RM235) respectively.
Dr Gendeh complained that rule after rule seeking to control private medical practice, like drug price display and the imminent DRG, have been implemented without consulting private doctors.
“Marching as a group of doctors in protest to the Ministry of Health did not make a difference,” he said.
“What the different government agencies have done was to gather the professional bodies to ‘inform’ them in a townhall, or even in selected groups to hear our views, after they have decided on their plans on how it will be carried out.”
ASPMP stressed that health care cannot be made “cheaper” by multiple regulations.
“It will definitely restrict the progressive development of private medical advances, where technology and newer treatment and medications will inevitably result in higher and higher costs, for the best results in care and treatment,” said Dr Gendeh.
“As private doctors, we are a small group and are no match for the big corporations of insurance industries, private hospitals and big corporations who are funding health care.
“At a time when public health care is unpopular for whatever reasons, with the bulk of the middle class and above flocking to private health, using rules and regulations to control our fees and capping our charges for various complex advanced procedures is wrong.”
At least one third-party administrator (TPA) has begun restricting panel health care providers to a generic-only policy for chronic medications for employees of a certain bank.
According to data by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), only 22 per cent of new medicines are available in Malaysia, new medicines are delayed almost three years after global first launch in Malaysia, and only 2 per cent of new medicines are available quickly in Malaysia.
