As we focus on “Malaysia Madani” (Civil Malaysia) to help combat corruption, wastage and inefficiencies, the time is also right for us to curb the cost of private healthcare.
On the night of 30 March, I was at a leading ‘private’ healthcare facility to undergo emergency treatment for a lower back pain. (This particular facility has close ties with government initiatives – so there is that dimension as well.)
For being at this hospital for over an hour, for waiting in the lobby, for use of a wheelchair, for lying on an accident and emergency bed, for being seen by medical officer for less than 10 minutes and finally for being dispensed with 10 tablets (Arcoxia – Etoricoxib 120mg), the bill came up to RM312.
When I enquired, I was told that the charges included the use of a wheelchair, the gloves worn by a nurse, and the use of the bed.
The profit motivation that drives private healthcare is usually justified by the argument that one has to pay for quality healthcare. But is this really the case?
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If Malaysia Madani is to succeed, it is necessary to address this unethical, immoral, senseless ‘profit-making motivation’ in medical care which appears to be devoid of any shred of humanitarianism, let alone any honest commitment to nation-building.
When a private hospital bills a patient such unjustifiable ‘hiked-up’ costs, we would assume that their profits go to re-investments in technology, to increasing the number of beds and in particular and to paying for nursing staff’.
One wonders how much of these billed amounts goes to the ridiculously high renumeration of their medical staff. Some of these private hospitals even provide shares for their highly specialised doctors in order to attract and retain them.
The private hospital business in Malaysia has become a business venture to make easy profits and a means for medical specialists to find lucrative returns.
For a nation struggling to manage its debts and suffering from systemic corruption, we must ask the government to review and redress this ‘sickness’ that has long been ailing our private healthcare.
Unjustified profiteering is disturbing, as it amounts to squeezing money out from the sick and from those who are suffering and in pain.
It is about time to use the Malaysia Madani concept to force private healthcare institutions to return to their original mission envisioned by the government, that is, to relieve the load on public healthcare facilities.
Healthcare, like education, is a basic right that mercenary, profiteering capitalists should not exploit.
When private healthcare institutions thrive on such avarice that arbitrarily fix prices to make easy profits, then they are not only in conflict with the key principles of Malaysia Madani but also with basic humanitarian ideals.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
Malaysia Madani my f…t.
Bantu smua rakyat tak Kira bangsa