KUALA LUMPUR: Government hospitals are embarking on mass surgery initiatives to help reduce the number of hospital backlog cases in the country.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin described this as a "gotong-royong" effort, to clear backlog surgical cases which had been postponed to address the immediate needs of treating Covid-19 patients in the past two years.
"From the 57,355 backlog cases in Health Ministry hospitals reported on Sept 30, 2021, the number has gone down by 33.8 per cent to 37,963 as of Dec 31, 2021.
"The ministry is actively conducting mass surgery initiatives in several states, and here in Selayang Hospital, the mass urology surgery initiative (Musi) had begun on Feb 10 until Feb 13," he said in his speech at the launch of the initiative here, today.
Mass surgery initiatives had also been conducted in Kelantan (for cataract surgery) and with neurology mass surgery in the pipelines.
Khairy said based on data, there were 4,000 backlogged urology cases (3,809 non-cancerous and 191 cancerous) in October last year.
In December, the backlogs reduced to 2,780 cases (2,630 non-cancerous and 150 cancerous).
Khairy said the majority of the urological backlog cases still awaiting surgery involved stones either in the kidneys, ureters, or bladders, and benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostate gland enlargement.
"If surgery is held off for too long, it can cause complications where the patient will experience pain, bacterial infection or kidney damage."
Khairy said the Musi in Selayang Hospital would be conducted simultaneously in three operating theatres from 8am to 5pm, with a target of 15 cases a day or at least 50 throughout the four-day period.
The cases were also being supported by urologists from Serdang Hospital, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Teaching Hospital, and private hospitals including KPJ Damansara Hospital, KPJ Sentosa Hospital and Avisena Specialist Hospital.
"The services rendered by the urologists from UPM and the private hospitals are given pro bono," he added.