Emergency departments across Malaysia face chronic overcrowding, while health care workers battle burnout.
Yet, public specialists, medical officers, paramedics, nurses, and drivers are regularly pulled away for off-site event coverage, thus straining hospital operations.
This practice contrasts with the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) 2007 circular, which restricts public medical coverage to state heads, visiting foreign dignitaries, and official government functions.
Admittedly, government involvement carries distinct advantages in national interest contexts. For public sporting events like SUKMA, public deployment aligns with the circular’s intent, ensuring high-standard emergency pathways for state athletes without straining local sports budgets. There are now initiatives to reduce mobilisation of MOH staff for SUKMA.
However, applying this same public safety net to private, profit-generating ventures creates clear friction. Covering major commercial events like MotoGP or Formula 1 at Sepang has historically required public hospitals to deploy full advance teams on week-long rosters (preparation, training and race day), leading to frozen leave and mandatory overtime of various staff directly or indirectly from it.
Similarly, many regional commercial marathons continue to rely on public emergency assets.
Commercial entities can, and should, shoulder their own event safety. Successful benchmarks already exist: the Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon (KLSCM) partners with Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur to deliver comprehensive, private event coverage.
Strictly enforcing MOH’s circular offers a clear win-win: it safeguards public emergency readiness and protects health care staff from burnout.
Crucially, stepping back from commercial venues will also stimulate Malaysia’s private health care sector and commercial ambulance services, enabling private providers with event-management expertise to thrive.
The author is an emergency physician.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
