KUALA LUMPUR: The lack of hospitals with medical specialists is among the issues that need to be looked into by the government ahead of the 2019 Budget 2019.
This is to address the issue of surplus of junior doctors and housemen in the country, said I-Medik vice-president Prof Dr. Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar.
Rafidah said the situation had forced many housemen to wait between six months and a year for spots to become available for them to carry their duties.
She said even though the country had about 139 hospitals, they did not meet the specific requirements to enable trainees to undergo their specialisations.
"With the increase of students in local and foreign medical colleges, the matter is becoming more complicated.
"Some of them are forced to find other jobs while waiting for their turns to be called for work. I hope this matter can be looked into by the government," she said when met yesterday.
The 2019 Budget is expected to be tabled on Nov 2.
On the government’s proposal to provide insurance to those in the B40 income bracket, Dr Rafidah said it should be studied further in order to benefit the people.
"The government needs to have proper guidelines on this, apart from the need to determine the number of the people who go to hospital in a year and the amount allocated for this purpose, among others.
"At the same time, I hope the government will continue to provide medical subsidies to the people as our health services are among the best in the world," she said.
On the price of medicines, she said the increasing price of goods had prompted many people to switch from private to government hospitals and this had impacted the existing hospital staff.
"We need a budget that covers public health services for the people to receive the best treatments, and this is important to address the issue of people’s non-productivity due to chronic illnesses.
"Investment in the public health sector is important for the country’s savings in the long run, and this has been proven in many developed countries," she said.
She also hoped the government would be able to increase the number cluster hospitals to complement district hospitals around the country.
"The combination of medical expertise from several hospitals will particularly benefit those in the rural areas, such as the cluster hospitals in Sabah," he said.