Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has accepted the Health Ministry's explanation on the issue of cardiac patients being discharged from the National Heart Institute (IJN) and sent for treatment to designated government cardiac centres.
Through a recording of the “Keluar Sekejap” podcast on Instagram, Khairy said stable patients can be discharged from IJN for follow-up treatment at selected government hospitals.
"What the ministry explained is that when they (patients) are in a stable condition, the patient will be discharged to be sent to a government hospital.
"We understand that the cost of treatment at IJN may be quite high, so when the condition is stable, the doctor or cardiologist is confident that the patient can be treated at another government hospital.
"Then they are sent to be placed under the care of the government hospital. I think it's okay, the ministry’s answer is correct," he said.
The issue arose after a letter, published on CodeBlue, from an unnamed pensioner claimed he was discharged after receiving extensive care at IJN.
He was told that the ministry issued a directive that all civil servants and pensioners should be discharged to the government cardiac centre nearest to their homes.
Minister’s clarifications
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has since clarified that IJN was not turning away pensioners.
"This is not the first and last time I have responded to this recurring issue. IJN and the Health Ministry already have a good working relationship, even after the corporatisation of IJN.
"For a long time, the Health Ministry has referred complex cases and critical heart patients to IJN, especially to reduce the congestion and long waiting periods at Health Ministry cardiac centres, for example, the one in Serdang.
"We have seven hospitals which have cardiology services and three including cardiothoracic services and the Health Ministry pays IJN for every patient referred to it using the annual federal funding received from the Finance Ministry," Dzulkefly said on Facebook on Feb 27.
Therefore, to ensure more patients can be referred to lJN, patients are allowed to be discharged once their condition is stable to other Health Ministry cardiac centres, he explained.
Other hospitals
Khairy highlighted that the cardiac centre at Serdang Hospital offers services comparable to IJN.
He also said that when he was the health minister, the catheterisation laboratory at Serdang Hospital was added to improve the quality of its services.
"After this launch, with the staff and expertise at Serdang Hospital, it is hoped that the ministry’s dependence on IJN can be reduced because more people can be treated at the cardiac centre in Serdang," he added.
At the same time, Khairy hoped efforts to upgrade the cardiac centres at Serdang Hospital and other government hospitals could be expedited.
"This is because a comparison (between IJN and government hospitals) will be made.
“We have seen comments stating that patients are stable and family members have been discharged from IJN and sent back to government hospitals - but the level of service is different,” he added. - Mkini
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