MCA: Under-eight-hour bed waits don’t mean hospital congestion is over

 

AN MCA leader has urged Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad to conduct regular, unannounced visits to public hospitals, saying improved bed-waiting statistics do not necessarily reflect conditions on the ground.

Party vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng said the minister should personally inspect emergency departments, areas where patients wait for ward admission and hospital wards to assess whether overcrowding had eased.

“He ought to visit emergency departments, bed-waiting areas and hospital wards in person, listen to the actual experiences of patients, family members and frontline healthcare workers, and then assess the extent to which the situation has improved,” he stressed.

On Oct 27, Dr Dzulkefly told the Dewan Rakyat that 28 of 39 Type One and Type Two hospitals nationwide, or 71.8%, recorded average waiting times of less than eight hours for patients awaiting admission to wards from emergency departments as of June 2026.

This was an improvement from 55.26% in 2025.

The figures cover state hospitals and major specialist hospitals that handle high volumes of emergency cases and referrals from surrounding districts.

However, Wee said the remaining 11 hospitals that had yet to meet the eight-hour benchmark showed that congestion continued to affect major public hospitals.

“Statistics can inform the Health Minister the average waiting time, but they cannot convey what it feels like for an elderly person to lie in an emergency department for hours,” he said.

“Nor can they reflect the distress of family members waiting in corridors or the pressure on healthcare workers who are attending to large numbers of patients simultaneously.”

Dr Dzulkefly had also informed Parliament that 94 of 103 Type Three and Type Four hospitals, comprising minor specialist hospitals and hospitals without specialists, recorded average bed-waiting times of less than four hours.

The Health Ministry has said it is pursuing short- and long-term measures to ease congestion, including hospital outsourcing programmes, bed management units, day-care services and a cluster-hospital approach.

Its outsourcing programme, introduced in 2024, has benefited more than 50,000 patients across 75 ministry hospitals, according to the minister.

Wee noted the challenges facing the public healthcare system included shortages of hospital beds, healthcare personnel and specialist doctors, as well as excessive patient numbers in emergency departments.

He added that Dzulkefly had acknowledged the need to address overcrowding over the longer term through expanded facilities, renovation works, additional staffing and stronger primary healthcare services.

“Moreover, Dr Dzulkefly recently acknowledged that the government still has to address hospital overcrowding in the long term through the expansion of facilities, renovation works, additional staffing and stronger primary healthcare services,” he said.

Wee urged the minister to make regular, unannounced visits to major hospitals, particularly during night shifts, weekends and peak periods.

“MCA urges the Health Minister to conduct regular, unannounced visits to major hospitals to observe conditions in emergency departments during night shifts, at weekends and during peak periods, rather than relying solely on pre-arranged official visits in which the processes have already been prepared for inspection,” he said. ‒  Focus Malaysia