Digest on Malaysian News

Malaysia Medical Association has whined that the Health Ministry's plan to send patients to India for treatment because the treatment is far more cheaper then the amount charged on Malaysian soil.

Take a look at this:
It was reported that the cost per child in India, including surgery, airfare and treatment would only amount to RM10,000 compared to about RM17,000 at the National Heart Institute (IJN) here and up to RM45,000 at private hospitals.

Why is it, getting treatment oversea is cheaper after taking into consideration the cost of traveling and lodging? The higher cost of medical treatment in Malaysia could be due:
1) high labour cost
2) medical institute and private hospitals overcharging (or bills highly marked up)

In addition, Health Ministry is promoting Malaysia as a health tourism destination but plan to send patients the opposition direction.

One of the underlying problem is lack of local doctors who work with local hospital. No doubt, Malaysia have enough doctors but the government policies of insisting that local doctors must be able to converse in Bahasa Malaysia is absolutely ridiculous and hypocritical especially when Health Ministry imported foreign doctors from India and Bangladesh WHO DO NOT SPEAK Bahasa Malaysia. It a double standard on behalf of the Health Ministry.

In real life, if you are qualified doctor, you don't to know Bahasa Malaysia to save life. Health Ministry is also underpaying local doctors. Doctors need to be paid more because they need to recoup their expenses while studying medicine.

What the Health Ministry can do to improve the situation is:
1) full sponsorship for students who wish to take medicinal studying
2) do not enforced Bahasa Malaysia as a must for language requirement at hospital
3) subsidies cost of medicines
4) upgrade university medicine course

Joke:

Then there's the woman who goes to the dentist. As he leans over to begin working on her, she grabs his crotch. The dentist says, "Madam, I believe you've got a hold of my privates." The woman replies, "Yes. Now, we're going to be careful not to hurt each other, aren't we."

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Extracted from: theborneopost.com/?p=33516 (Apr 04, 2008)

MMA: Sending heart patients to India unwise

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry’s plan to send patients to India for heart surgeries would only hamper the local cardiac and healthcare industry, the Malaysia Medical Association (MMA) said yesterday.

Its president Datuk Dr Khoo Kah Lin in a statement here said the move was retrogressive and contradicted the government’s aim to promote the country as a health tourism destination.

“Sending patients overseas might solve the immediate problem for a while but will be detrimental for the development of comprehensive cardiac care in this country,” he said in response to Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai’s statement yesterday that children born with congenital heart disease would be sent to India for treatment as a last resort if it is not possible to schedule for their treatment here.

“Malaysia has been working hard to position itself as a health tourism destination.

This move of sending our citizens overseas is going to send the wrong signals and hurt the efforts grievously.”

It was reported that the cost per child in India, including surgery, airfare and treatment would only amount to RM10,000 compared to about RM17,000 at the National Heart Institute (IJN) here and up to RM45,000 at private hospitals.

Dr Khoo said instead of making the relative cost an excuse, the government itself should be working on ways to come up with competitive cost packages for such surgery.

— Bernama