SHAH ALAM: Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad is expected to bring the review of the consultation fees of medical practitioners at private clinics and hospitals to the Cabinet in a week or two.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said discussions with various parties are currently being carried out.
“The Cabinet paper is being prepared and we have engaged with non-governmental organisations, healthcare providers as well as patient support groups to assess if they are receptive to the hike. We are also in the process of getting feedback from Consumers’ Association of Penang and Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations as they had objected to it.
“We need to look at this from the economic and cost aspects as well as what is the suitable increase. This matter is still being discussed and at the end of it, the minister will table the paper to the Cabinet to determine how much of a raise is suitable,” he said.
Medical practitioners at private clinics and hospitals have requested for an increase in consultation fees from between RM10 to RM35 and RM35 to RM125.
Dr Noor Hisham said the government has no plans to review its RM1 and RM5 registration charges for people who seek outpatient and specialist care, which have remained unchanged since 1982.
Dr Noor Hisham was speaking to reporters after officiating the World Health Organisation/ International Agency for The Prevention of Blindness Western Pacific/ Ministry of Health Western Pacific Cataract Surgical Outcome Conference at Shah Alam Hospital on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham encouraged private hospitals to contribute data on its cataract surgical outcomes to the National Eye Department, as currently practiced by government hospitals, whose performances are monitored by the ministry’s head of service for ophthalmology.
The data collected from government and private hospitals from the cataract surgical outcomes, he said, could be evaluated in terms of performance monitoring for quality control.
Among the direct and indirect indicators of the data are complications such as infections and side effects, duration of the operation as well as patients’ hospitalisation period.
When the time is right and if there is a demand for it, Dr Noor Hisham said the data from the hospitals could assist the ministry in listing the top 10 cataract surgery centres in the country.
Dr Noor Hisham said such a list would also help patients in making their choices when they need cataract surgery.
“Currently the data is only known internally and it is not published yet. All doctors have said they want to share their data and if they do, then their performance will be evaluated and shared with the public.
“Patients nowadays do not want to depend on hearsay but to look at data to determine a centre’s performance. That is the way forward,” he added.
He said there are 300,000 new cataract patients recorded in the country annually who are on the waiting list for operations.
Dr Noor Hisham said the capacity to carry out operations stood at 1/3 and there was a need to increase efficiency and at the same time, ensure quality performance.