DESPITE the spiralling cost of necessities, government healthcare services have not been compromised with respect to their quality and charges.
Although swarmed by patients and overcrowded wards, doctors and nurses continue to provide medical treatment to the public.
In tandem with government healthcare services is private medical care which, to a certain extent, complements the national health services. Unlike the government medical facilities, they are primarily a business concern purveying medical and health services for a profit.
Their fees are usually beyond the means of an average wage earner. Only the well-heeled and those with medical insurance can afford their services.
But, sometimes, due to some circumstances, the common man has to resort to private hospitals. The experience can be traumatic.
An example is the case of a family which sought medical attention for their 8-year-old son at a private hospital in Penang. He had fever and the doctor recommended a blood test.
The charges for the test, medication and consultancy came to RM500, a big sum for an average income earner.
After the test proved negative, the parents got a prescription for antibiotics as recommended earlier by the doctor. For just writing the prescription, she charged RM120 with the medicine costing RM58.
One would have thought that her consultation fee would include writing the prescription. In all, the family paid RM650.
At the same time, the doctor recommended that the boy be warded for a day or two for observation. The parents declined because their son was recovering and they could not afford it.
Private hospitals not only charge every single service but they also recommend additional tests, purportedly as a precaution, as well as refer the patients to specialists.
Another person also had an unpleasant experience at the same hospital when his wife was warded there.
Two blood tests and a two-day stay cost him RM6,000. No medication was prescribed. He got his wife discharged as the attending physician wanted to call in other specialists for consultation.
She was later admitted to Penang General Hospital and recovered.
There is a need to regulate the charges of private hospitals to be more affordable to the “common people” in line with the Hippocratic Oath.
There is also a need to bring private hospitals into the sphere of national healthcare by way of contributing their services to the less fortunate or, at the very least, by implementing reasonable charges.
Most of us take government public health services for granted. Some even attach a stigma to public hospitals and clinics.
You will never know the high quality of healthcare provided almost gratis by the government at its facilities until you experience private hospitals’ business-like services.
Then, you will realise the humaneness of government healthcare, which is second to none in this region, if not among the best in the world.
MOHAMED GHOUSE
NASURUDDIN,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang