Association defends charges for Covid-19 patients in private hospitals

 

The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia says private healthcare is expensive, anywhere in the world. (AP pic)

PETALING JAYA: The charges for treating Covid-19 patients at private healthcare facilities can run up to hundreds of thousands, admits the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM).

Defending a photo of charges for Covid-19 patients at a private hospital in Negeri Sembilan which former prime minister Najib Razak uploaded on Facebook today, APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh said the public was simply unaware that the charges, especially for patients in ICU, could run up to RM200,000 for 15 days’ hospitalisation.

Health minister Dr Adham Baba last year estimated that the median cost of treatment for Category 4 and Category 5 Covid-19 patients was RM870 per day, or RM18,270 for 21 days’ hospitalisation.

Category 4 patients are those with pneumonia requiring oxygen therapy while Category 5 patients are those in critical care and requiring assisted ventilation.

“Private healthcare is expensive anywhere in the world,” Kuljit told FMT, adding that he could not verify the sum that Adham provided.

“People do not know that treatment in private hospitals costs this much. It’s the same cost for any treatment, especially lung infections, as they require the same treatment – ventilators, oxygen, intubation, observation and such.

The fee schedule that Najib Razak posted.

“At least 80% of the products such as the machines, medical supplies and medicine we use for ICU treatment come from overseas, and it’s more expensive now due to the (ringgit’s) lower exchange rate.

“We also don’t get any subsidies, unlike government hospitals.”

Kuljit said charges for private healthcare in Malaysia are among the lowest in the region and offer value for money, highlighting the country’s strong record in medical tourism.

Before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, medical tourist arrivals in Malaysia were almost three times that of its Southeast Asian neighbours.

Malaysia also had the highest number of medical tourist arrivals in the world in 2018 (900,000) and 2019 (1.3 million), with hospital receipts from medical tourists more than tripling from 2009 to 2019 when it hit RM1.7 billion.

Kuljit added that there are no guidelines regulating charges that private hospitals can levy, and while the Private Healthcare Facilities & Services Act was passed in 1998, he said it only prescribes a fee schedule that private doctors can charge – which he said is a small portion of a patient’s total hospital bill.

“The bottom line is that the cost of medical treatment in private hospitals is the same as public hospitals, the difference is that the government pays for everything and patients do not know the actual cost,” he said.

“(The) public want the private (hospital) bill to be cheap and affordable, but healthcare worldwide is not affordable – including for governments.”

FMT has contacted the private hospital in question for comment. - FMT